According to Reuters, the European Commission spokesperson indicated on Friday that, as the number of users had reached the relevant regulatory threshold, the use of Whitsapp for communications under Meta was likely to be subject to strict online content rules for illegal and harmful content. In the first half of 2025, the “channel” function under the flag of Whatsapp reached an average of 51.7 million active users per month in the EU, exceeding the 45 million user threshold set by the Digital Services Act (DSA).
According to the EU, more than 45 million monthly live users of the platform are identified as “super-large online platforms” requiring full compliance with the DSA rules governing the operation of digital platforms, in particular with regard to the removal of illegal or harmful content. Non-compliant enterprises can be fined up to 6 per cent of global turnover. At present, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, TikTok, Temu, and Microsoft and the British are recognized as “super-large online platforms for DSA regulation”. In his daily press conference, the spokesperson of the European Commission, Thomas Renier, stated: “The European Commission aims to clarify which private news services are not subject to DSA and which are more open channels like social media platforms — the latter should be covered by DSA. So, we might actually be targeting whatsApp’s channel function. It may be confirmed that the Commission is actively studying the matter, not excluding its formal inclusion as a regulatory objective in the future.”
While the WhatsApp has traditionally been a private communications tool, its “channel” function allows users to publish content in one-way to all those concerned, which is more similar to other social media platforms under Meta’s banner.” It is possible, therefore, that the channel function of Whatsapp may be the subject of regulation,” confirmed by a Committee spokesperson. The discussion of whatsapp as a possible EU regulatory target first appeared in November 2025, but Meta had faced penalties for DSA violations on several previous occasions. In October 2025, Meta was charged with violating European Union law for handling reports of illegal user content on Facebook and Instagram. Earlier the same month, the Dutch court also ordered the company to modify the platform’s time line presentation on the grounds that in its application Dutch users “cannot make full free and autonomous choices about the use of individualized recommended systems”.
