Stricter EU rules for US tech companies

Stricter EU rules for US tech companies

Brussels, 21.02.2023

Google, Twitter and Meta must expect stricter EU rules for online content in the future. The number of users of the platforms has exceeded a corresponding threshold of the European Union.

The Google mother Alphabet, the Facebook parent company Meta and the short message service Twitter have to reckon with stricter EU regulations for online content. The reason is a threshold of monthly user numbers specified by the EU, which is exceeded by the companies.

According to the new rules, companies with more than 45 million users are classified as very large online platforms according to the EU understanding. They are therefore obliged to risk management and are subject to external and independent reviews. They must also share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct.

The European Commission had given online platforms and search engines until February 17 to publish their monthly active users. Very large online platforms have four months to comply with the rules – otherwise they risk fines.

US short message service Twitter said it had 100.9 million average monthly users in the EU based on a 45-day estimate.

Among other things, the Google parent company Alphabet presented figures based on user accounts. The company said the average monthly number of logged-in users was 278.6 million on Google Maps, 274.6 million on Google Play, 332 million on Google Search, 74.9 million on Shopping and 401.7 million on YouTube.

Last week, Meta also announced that for the past six months of 2022, the group had an average of 255 million monthly active users on Facebook in the EU and around 250 million monthly active users on Instagram.

Among other things, the EU rules are intended to ensure that certain content disappears from the network more quickly. Examples are terror propaganda, hate speech or the sale of counterfeit goods.