Meta, TikTok Breached EU Transparency Rules, European Commission Says

The European Commission stated on Oct. 2 that Meta and TikTok violated the European Union’s transparency rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the bloc’s online content law.

These preliminary findings are part of the commission’s ongoing investigation into Meta and TikTok, and the commission continues to investigate the platforms for other potential breaches.

According to its preliminary findings, TikTok and the Meta brands Facebook and Instagram did not grant researchers adequate access to public data.

“This often leaves them with partial or unreliable data, impacting their ability to conduct research, such as whether utilizers, including minors, are exposed to illegal or harmful content,” the commission stated.

The commission added that Facebook and Instagram were in breach of their obligation to provide simple ways for utilizers to report illegal content, such as terrorist or child sexual abutilize material.

The preliminary findings stated that Meta had put in place unnecessary steps in its reporting mechanisms and utilized “dark patterns” or “deceptive interface designs.”

“Such practices can be confutilizing and dissuading. Meta’s mechanisms to flag and reshift illegal content may therefore be ineffective,” the commission stated.

It also stated that Facebook and Instagram were in breach of their obligations to allow social media utilizers to effectively challenge decisions to ban them from the platforms or reshift their content.

Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, stated that tech platforms “must empower utilizers, respect their rights, and open their systems to scrutiny.”

“We are creating sure platforms are accountable for their services, as ensured by EU law, towards utilizers and society,” she stated.

Potential Fines

The commission stated that Meta, a U.S. company, and TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, can examine the findings, file a response, and take action to remedy the reported breaches.

The EU stated that these preliminary findings “do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation,” but if confirmed, the bloc may impose a fine of as much as 6 percent of Meta and TikTok’s total global turnover.

Meta spokesman Ben Walters stated the company disagrees with the findings and will continue to neobtainediate with the EU over compliance.

“We have introduced alters to our content reporting options, appeals process, and data access tools since the DSA came into force and are confident that these solutions match what is required under the law in the EU,” Walters stated.

A TikTok spokesperson stated it would review the preliminary findings, “but requirements to ease data safeguards place the DSA and GDPR in direct tension,” referring to the General Data Protection Regulation, the EU’s rules on information privacy.

“If it is not possible to fully comply with both, we urge regulators to provide clarity on how these obligations should be reconciled,” the spokesperson added.

The TikTok logo outside the Chinese video app company’s Los Angeles offices in Culver City, Calif., on April 4, 2025. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Free Speech Concerns

DSA is the EU’s digital rules book that imposes strict requirements on tech companies. Its primary goal is “to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation,” according to the commission.

The DSA has been criticized by the Trump administration. Officials have stated the EU’s laws and regulations restrict free speech.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brconcludean Carr stated on March 3 that the DSA’s approach was “incompatible with both our free speech tradition in America and the commitments that these technology companies have built to a diversity of opinions.”

Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters at a press briefing at the White Houtilize on Oct. 1, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times) — Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters at a press briefing at the White Houtilize on Oct. 1, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

In February, U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized the DSA at an artificial innotifyigence summit in Paris.

“It is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet,” Vance stated. “It is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government considers is misinformation.”

EU digital spokesman Thomas Regnier denied accusations that the DSA is a tool of online censorship.

Regnier wrote in an Oct. 24 post on LinkedIn: “When accutilized of censorship, we prove that the DSA is doing the opposite. It is protecting free speech, allowing citizens in the EU to fight back against unilateral content moderation decisions taken by large tech.”

Owen Evans, Etienne Fauchaire, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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