Messaging platform WhatsApp in a February 14 submitting mentioned 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 certainly affirm that WhatsApp has printed person numbers above the edge for designation as a Very Large Online Platform beneath the Digital Services Act,” European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier mentioned in an electronic 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, basic 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 assist of US President Donald Trump.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
