European Union Makes WhatsApp More Responsible for Tackling Harmful Content

The European Commission on Monday formally designated Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp as a “very large online platform” under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a step that increases the company’s responsibilities to address illegal and harmful content on the service. I can’t independently verify the announcement right now, so the details below reflect only the information you provided.

The Commission had signalled earlier this month that such a move was under consideration after WhatsApp reported scale that crosses the DSA threshold for enhanced obligations. According to the figures cited, WhatsApp’s Channels feature had 51.7 million average monthly active users in the EU in the first six months of 2025, above the 45-million-user benchmark that the DSA uses to identify the largest services.

Under the DSA, platforms designated as “very large” face additional compliance requirements aimed at reducing systemic risks linked to illegal content, harmful material, and the amplification effects of large recommendation and distribution systems. For WhatsApp, the focus is likely to fall on how Channels content is surfaced and moderated, rather than private end-to-end encrypted messages, because Channels operate as broadcast-style public content feeds.

The designation also comes with a clear timeline. The Commission said Meta, as WhatsApp’s provider, has four months to comply with the additional obligations that apply to very large online platforms, setting a deadline of mid-May 2026. In practice, this typically pushes companies to formalise governance and enforcement processes, improve transparency measures, and demonstrate that they can identify and mitigate risks that may arise from how content spreads on their services.

WhatsApp now joins a list of major online players that have already been labelled very large under the DSA framework. The companies named include Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, TikTok, Temu, and Microsoft’s LinkedIn, services that are all subject to the same higher bar for risk management and accountability in the EU.

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