Meta and TikTok are appealing against the implementation of the European DSA law. Both companies believe they will have to pay disproportionate amounts to regulators.

The European Digital Services Act has been in force since August 2023, but Meta and TikTok have not yet buried the hatchet. Both social media giants confirm to Politico that they are taking legal action against the current rules. What Meta and TikTok don’t like, at least in their opinion, is that they have to pay disproportionately much to enforce the law.

The DSA says that “very large online platforms” (45 million or more monthly users) must pay a fee to the regulators who are required to monitor the social media giants. Each company will pay a different amount, calculated based on the 2022 fiscal year net annual profit. Meta doesn’t think that’s a fair benchmark, as some companies get off well even if they “pose a greater regulatory burden,” according to the owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Everyone is equal before the law

Meta has the right to talk about anything. Politico estimated that they would have to raise 11 million euros alone. Only Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has to pay 22.1 million euros more. Together, the two companies are financing almost the entire savings pot of 45 million euros that the European Commission wants to collect from the tech giants. TikTok contributes almost four million euros via its parent company ByteDance.

The European Commission has classified 20 platforms as “very large”, but not every company has to pay the same amount. Amazon and X may have to pay for another reason, as the EU has opened an investigation into the social media platform for inadequate compliance with the rules.

DSA currently only serves a select group of tech giants, but significant expansion is in the pipeline. From February 17, all online platforms available in the European Union will be subject to the regulations, as will providers of hosting services and internet infrastructure.