The European Commission has preliminarily found TikTok and Meta in breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), specifically for failing to provide researchers with adequate access to public data.
This requirement aims to enable independent scrutiny of the platforms’ impact, including whether minors are exposed to illegal or harmful content. The Commission criticised the companies for imposing cumbersome access procedures, resulting in partial or unreliable data that hampers vital research.
Additionally, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram were found to lack user-friendly tools for reporting illegal content, with complicated steps and so-called “dark patterns” that discourage effective reporting. The appeals process for content moderation decisions was also deemed inadequate, limiting users’ ability to challenge decisions effectively.
Meta denied these claims, stating it has updated its content reporting, appeals, and data access tools to comply with EU law. TikTok also emphasised its commitment to transparency and noted that nearly 1000 research teams have access to data through its Research Tools. TikTok raised concerns over conflicts between the DSA and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), asking regulators for clarity on reconciling these obligations.
This announcement follows previous EU sanctions: Meta faced a €200 million fine under the Digital Markets Act for its “consent or pay” data model, while TikTok was fined €530 million by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for illegal transfers of EU user data to China.
If the Commission confirms these findings, the companies could face fines of up to 6% of their worldwide annual turnover.