Europe to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok: You have broken our Tech Law, tech companies ‘disagree’

The European Union’s (EU) executive body the European Commission has said that TikTok, and Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram have violated its transparency rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the bloc’s landmark technology regulation, that may result in billions of dollars in fines for the social media companies.

The Commission’s primary finding centres on data access for researchers. According to EU rules, social media platforms must give researchers “adequate access” to public data so they can study the platforms’ impacts on society, including potential physical and mental health effects on users.