According to Bloomberg, Meta’s WhatsApp has now amassed enough users to be designated a “very large online platform” (VLOP) under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), subjecting it to stricter regulation in the region.
European Commission Commissioner Thomas Regnier told "Bloomberg" that the DSA grants VLOP status to online services with more than 45 million users, and WhatsApp crossed this threshold last year.
In a February 14 filing, the company said that in the last six months of 2024, the average number of monthly active users of WhatsApp Channels, WhatsApp's broadcast feature, was "approximately 46.8 million." In a February 16 update to its privacy policy, WhatsApp also added new information about its data processing "in accordance with its regulatory obligations under the DSA."
Companies designated as VLOP must provide users with a way to report illegal goods, services or content and provide methods to prevent or remove such posts. The DSA has also placed tight controls on the information companies can use to target advertising, and tighter restrictions on targeting ads to children. European users of VLOP have the right to have more control over how their data is used and must be able to opt out of features such as recommendation systems and profiling.
In the EU, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram are already considered VLOPs.