Tech Giants From Google to TikTok Face Tougher EU Rules

BRUSSELS—Tech Giants Because of their enormous user base, Facebook and Twitter are subject to more stringent online content rules within the European Union.

The Digital Services Act (DSA), which was recently amended, classifies companies that have more than 45,000,000 users as very large online platform (VLOPs). They are required to manage risk and do independent and external auditing.

They will also be required to share information with researchers and establish a code.

The European Commission gave online search engines and online platforms until February 17 to publish their monthly active user statistics. VLOPs are required to adhere to the rules within four months or face fines.

Twitter announced Thursday that it has 100.9 million monthly average users in the EU based on an estimate of the past 45 days.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, presented two sets of numbers that were based on user accounts and one that was based on signed-out users. It stated that users can access its services regardless of whether or not they have an account.

According to it, the average monthly sign-in user count was 278.6 Million at Google Maps and 274.6 Mio at Google Play. 332 Mio at Google Search. 74.9 Mio at Shopping. 401.7 mio at YouTube.

Apple stated that its App Store, which it built for iPhones and has more than 45,000,000 monthly users, qualifies as a large online platform. Apple will apply the same rules for the App Store for iPads and Mac computers, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Apple Books e-books, podcasts and paid subscriptions to Apple Books.

“Apple intends, on an entirely voluntary basis, to align each of the existing versions of the App Store [including those that do not currently meet the VLOP designation threshold] with the existing DSA requirements for VLOPs,” It stated this on its website.

Amazon stated it had more users than 45 million in the EU. Microsoft claimed that Bing had 107 million monthly users on average in the six-months to 2022.

Alibaba Group Holding’s online e-commerce site AliExpress reported that its average monthly active users in Europe was more than 45 million between Aug. 1, last year, and Jan. 31, this year.

Based on the estimation of the past 45 days, TikTok average monthly users are 100.9 million in the EU.

Ebay claimed that it was below the EU threshold for users.

Meta Platforms reported that there were 255 million monthly active Facebook users in the EU, and approximately 250 million monthly active Instagram users in the six-months to 2022. Every six months, companies will be required to report on user numbers.

By Foo Yun Chee

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