European Commission Says WhatsApp Falls Under DSA Regulation

The European Commission (EC) announced that Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service has enough users to qualify as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act (DSA), opening it up to more stringent oversight and regulation.

The DSA was created alongside the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in early 2022 as a way to limit the power of the biggest technology firms. So where the DMA focuses on fair competition by identifying so-called “gatekeeper” companies whose products and services dominate and abuse their markets, the DSA focuses on safety and responsibility in those online services that publish misinformation and illegal content.

Meta already falls under DMA regulations for its Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Marketplace offerings. And Facebook, Instagram, and Threads were already being regulated by the DSA. So this is, in some ways, no surprise. WhatsApp has over 3 billion users worldwide, 58 million or so of whom are in the EU.

Last year, WhatsApp had about 46.8 million users. But the success of its channels feature put the service over the top for more regulation: Once an online service surpasses 45 million users, it falls under DSA regulation. This opens it up to EC investigations and fines of up to 6 percent of the company’s annual revenues if found in breach.

I can’t find the EC announcement, but this move follows the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appealing the verdict in its antitrust case against Meta for acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp to create and maintain an illegal monopoly in social media.