TikTok follows Meta by challenging EU DSA’s supervisory fee

Following Meta’s complaint before the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) challenging the supervisory fee provision of the Digital Services Act (DSA), TikTok is the second social media platform to follow the same path.

Essentially, the complaint refers to Article 43 of the DSA, which established that the European Commission should charge providers of very large online platforms (VLOPs) and of very large search engines (VLOSE) an annual supervisory fee upon their designation. When charging that fee, the European Commission should consider the providers’ costs incurred in the previous year that do not exceed 0.05% of the worldwide annual net income. However, providers who show that they had a loss of profit or users on their platforms are exempt from that charge. So far, the DSA has designated 20 VLOPs, including TikTok, Meta, Google, and Apple.

TikTok’s spokesperson stated that the company is questioning the validity of the fee calculation method, citing concerns about the accuracy of the third-party estimates used to determine their monthly active user numbers. Meta and TikTok raise concerns over the calculation method, which they claim does not seem fair. This is because platforms with large user bases, such as Amazon, Pinterest, and Snapchat, do not have to pay the fee as they reported a loss in the preceding year.

Why does it matter?

The outcome of this complaint could have broader implications on the liability of the online services in ensuring their compliance with the EU law. This could also set a threshold as to whether the European Commission will make the calculation solely of the loss of profit or users or whether they will consider the platforms’ general large user base.