"Meta's messaging app WhatsApp could soon be subject to deeper scrutiny (and punishment) under the European Commission's Digital Services Act, Reuters reports. Because the app's broadcasting feature WhatsApp Channels grew to around 51.7 million average monthly active users in the European Union in the first six months of 2025, the feature has crossed the 45-million-person barrier that lets DSA rules apply."
"A platform is designated as a "very large online platform" or VLOP once it has 45 million monthly users or more, according to the European Commission. Once an app or service passes that amount, it's subject to the DSA and all its rules about how digital platforms should operate, particularly around removing illegal or harmful content. Companies can be fined up to six percent of their global annual revenue for not complying with the DSA."
"WhatsApp traditionally functions as a private messaging app, but its Channels feature, which lets users make one-sided posts to anyone who follows their channel, does look a lot more like Meta's other social media platforms. "So here we would indeed designate potentially WhatsApp for WhatsApp Channels and I can confirm that the Commission is actively looking into it and I wouldn't exclude a future designation," a Commission spokesperson said in a daily news briefing Reuters viewed."
WhatsApp Channels grew to around 51.7 million average monthly active users in the European Union during the first half of 2025, crossing the 45 million threshold for designation as a very large online platform (VLOP). VLOP designation under the EU Digital Services Act subjects services to rules on removing illegal or harmful content and allows fines up to six percent of global annual revenue for noncompliance. WhatsApp Channels enables one-sided broadcast posts that resemble social networks rather than private messaging. The European Commission is actively considering designating WhatsApp Channels as a VLOP and has not excluded a future designation. Meta faced DSA-related charges in October 2025 concerning content reporting on Facebook and Instagram.
Read at Engadget
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