TikTok, Twitter user numbers bring them under strict EU rules
TikTok, Twitter, Apple Store, Amazon and several other online platforms have announced user figures in Europe that bring them under stricter EU regulations for policing internet content.
The companies published their numbers ahead of a deadline Friday made compulsory under the new EU Digital Services Act (DSA) that puts internet behemoths operating in Europe under monitoring by the European Commission.
Those platforms -- also joined by Alphabet's Google Search and Google Maps units and its YouTube subsidiary, and Meta's Facebook and Instagram units -- all said they had more than 45 million monthly active "recipients" of their services.
That is the threshold above which they are categorised as a "Very Large Online Platform" (VLOP) or a "Very Large Online Search Engine" (VLOSE) under the DSA.
Many, but not all, of those falling into the VLOP/VLOSE listings are US internet giants.
One major non-American one was Chinese-owned TikTok, which on Friday said it had 125 million active monthly users in the EU.
Several platforms had chafed at the introduction of the new EU rules -- and some said only that they did or did not qualify as a very big platform under the DSA.
For instance, Amazon and Apple Store's iOS App Store said only that the number of people using their services monthly exceeded 45 million, without saying how many.
Swedish music-streaming site Spotify, British-based site OnlyFans, which streams content from sex workers and other content creators, and US dating app Tinder all said only that their active monthly users came in below the 45-million mark.
"We note with some concern that some platforms only published an estimation that they are below the threshold. This is not sufficient," warned a commission
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