Meta Platforms and TikTok have successfully challenged the European Commission in court over the supervisory fees imposed under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), though they will not recover the payments already made.
The General Court in Luxembourg ruled that regulators relied on the wrong legal procedure to calculate the levy, which currently stands at 0.05% of each company’s annual global net income.
The methodology, judges said, should have been set through a delegated act rather than through implementing decisions. In other words, the Commission acted outside the precise legal framework of the DSA.
The judgment provides the Commission with a year to correct its approach, but importantly, it does not oblige regulators to refund the 2023 fees paid by Meta and TikTok. Both companies had argued that the formula was disproportionate and unfair, especially for platforms with large user bases but tighter profit margins.
In its reaction, the Commission downplayed the impact of the decision. A spokesperson stated: “The Court’s ruling requires a purely formal correction on the procedure. We now have 12 months to adopt a delegated act to formalise the fee calculation and adopt new implementing decisions.”
Officials stressed that the ruling does not sabotage the principle of the supervisory fee itself, nor the amounts already collected.
The DSA, which came into force in November 2022, obliges very large online platforms to combat illegal and harmful content or risk fines of up to 6% of their global turnover. Compliance monitoring is expensive, and the supervisory fee is meant to fund that effort.
The size of the fee is tied to two key factors: the average number of monthly active users and the financial results of the company in the previous year.
While Meta and TikTok led the challenge, other major platforms also fall under the DSA’s obligations. These include Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Booking.com, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Elon Musk’s X platform. All are classified as “Very Large Online Platforms” because they exceed the threshold of 45 million active monthly users in the EU.
The ruling does not cancel the supervisory fee, but it does underline the need for procedural accuracy in the EU’s enforcement of digital rules. Analysts say the result may complicate future enforcement if other companies decide to contest the Commission’s methods.
