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A Drop in the Bucket: EU Charges Big Tech Just €58M Under DSA

By  |  April 1, 2025
Meta, antitrust, Instagram, Whatsapp

The European Commission charged the largest online platforms, including Google, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Apple, and TikTok, €58.2 million ($62.8 million), collectively, to cover the costs of its supervision of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in 2025, up from €45 million ($48.6 million) in 2024, according to an annual administrative report released Monday (3/31). The yearly fees are required under Article 43 of the DSA but are subject to legal challenge. Meta, Google, and TikTok have all launched court cases challenging how their individual fees were calculated.

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    While nominal relative to the platforms’ total revenue in the EU, the annual levies and the litigation come amid increased trade tensions between EU and the U.S. including over the EU’s DSA and its regulation of U.S.-based technology companies. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance singled out the DSA as an example of what he called the EU’s “excessive regulation” of artificial intelligence, including U.S.-based AI developers, in a speech during an AI Summit in Paris in February.

    The administrative assessments also come as the Trump Administration prepares to announce sweeping new tariffs, some of which are expected to target the EU. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported the EU is weighing counter tariffs targeting U.S. tech companies in response, a move that could further inflame tensions, although a final decision is not likely to come until after the extent of any new U.S. tariffs is clear.

    Related: Brussels Softens DMA Penalties for Apple and Meta Amid US Concerns

    The EU’s top antitrust enforcer, Teresa Ribera, is scheduled to meet with Federal Trade Commission chair Andrew Ferguson in Washington this week, as well as with officials from Canada and Mexico in a bid to ease trade frictions. Ribera was appointed to her position by Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in September, after serving as Spain’s Ecological Transition minister. In her new position she inherited ongoing antitrust investigations of Apple and Meta under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

    The DSA designates 23 Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) or Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) that are subject to the closest level or supervision by the Commission under the Act, including three that were added to the list in 2024. Designation applies to platforms or services with an average of at least 45 million monthly users within the EU. The supervisory fees assessed on each provider depends on the number of designated services or platforms they operate. Meta Platforms’ assessment, for instance, covers Facebook and Instagram, will Google’s covers Google Search, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Shopping, and YouTube.

    Approximately 100 requests for information were sent to providers or VLOPs or VLOSEs by the European Board of Digital Services during 2024, according to the report, and nine formal proceedings were opened against various providers. One of those proceedings led to TikTok committing to permanently withdrawing the TikTok Lite Rewards Programme from the EU, which the Commission made legally binding.

    Court proceedings related to the levies assessed to Meta, TikTok and Google for 2024 were still ongoing as of when the report was completed.

    Source: The Washington Post