WhatsApp Faces EU Tech Rules After Reaching Very Large Platform Status

WhatsApp has hit a consumer criterion set out in landmark EU tech guidelines, the unit owned by Meta Platforms stated, which means it’s required to do extra to deal with on-line unlawful and dangerous content material.

Messaging platform WhatsApp in a February 14 submitting stated it had about 46.8 million common month-to-month lively customers within the 27-country European Union within the six month interval to December 2024, above the 45-million-user threshold set out within the Digital Services Act (DSA).

“We can indeed confirm that WhatsApp has published user numbers above the threshold for designation as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act,” European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated in an e mail on Wednesday.

After receiving the designation, a platform has 4 months to adjust to the DSA necessities together with figuring out and assessing system dangers associated to unlawful content material, elementary rights, public safety and safety of minors.

Fines for DSA violations can attain as a lot as 6 % of an organization’s international annual income. Meta’s Instagram and Facebook are already categorised as very giant on-line platforms.

Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and its chief lobbyist Joel Kaplan have criticised EU tech guidelines and enlisted the help of US President Donald Trump.

© Thomson Reuters 2025