An investigation by European regulators found that TikTok and Meta broke EU rules on illegal or harmful online content.
The European Commission (EC) said on Friday that preliminary findings show the two companies are failing to comply with Digital Services Act (DSA) rules that require them to give researchers adequate access to public data.
The Commission called Meta and TikTok’s procedures and tools for requesting access to public data “cumbersome”, saying that researchers are therefore often left with partial or unreliable data, which affects “their ability to conduct research, for example on whether users, including minors, are exposed to illegal or harmful content”.
The Commission also said Meta’s platforms – Instagram and Facebook – both violated their obligations to provide EU residents with easy ways to report illegal content. The Commission said both platforms impose several unnecessary steps before users can report content, and accused Facebook and Instagram of using so-called “dark patterns” – design tricks that manipulate users into taking certain actions.
“Such practices can lead to confusion and deterrence. Meta’s mechanisms for reporting and removing illegal content may therefore be ineffective,” the Commission wrote in a statement.
The EC also said that the moderation appeal mechanisms of the two Meta platforms do not allow EU residents to fully explain or provide evidence to support their appeals. “This makes it difficult for EU users to further explain why they disagree with Meta’s content decision, limiting the effectiveness of the appeal mechanism,” the Commission wrote.
TikTok says it has made “substantial investments” in data sharing and has provided access to data to nearly 1,000 research teams through its search tools. “We are reviewing the European Commission’s findings, but requirements to relax data protection place the DSA and GDPR in direct tension. If it is not possible to fully comply with both, we urge regulators to clarify how these obligations should be reconciled,” a TikTok spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 27-29, 2025
Meanwhile, Meta claimed to have made changes to its tools and processes to comply with DSA requirements. “We disagree with any suggestion that we have violated the DSA, and we continue to negotiate with the European Commission on these issues. In the European Union, we have introduced changes to our content reporting options, our appeals process and our data access tools since the DSA came into force and we are confident that these solutions correspond to what is required by EU law,” said a spokesperson for Meta.
The findings are part of investigations launched into the two companies in early 2024. The EC had begun looking into TikTok with a focus on advertising transparency, data access for researchers, content moderation and protection of minors, as well as other concerns. The investigation into Meta was launched after the Commission said it suspected Facebook and Instagram of violating big platform rules regarding election integrity.
The DSA is the EU’s set of rules governing online platforms and content moderation, which largely addresses concerns about growing risks to consumer well-being in the digital realm. The law imposes a set of additional requirements on large platforms like TikTok and Meta in areas such as algorithmic transparency and systemic risk.
Penalties for confirmed DSA violations can reach up to 6% of global annual revenue.
The EC said both Meta and TikTok would be able to review its investigation documents, challenge the findings and commit to responding to them.
Note: This story has been updated to add comments from TikTok and Meta.
