Meta Platforms and TikTok won a legal challenge against the European Commission on Wednesday, successfully arguing that the methodology used to calculate a key supervisory fee was flawed. The fee, imposed under the landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), required the companies to pay 0.05% of their annual worldwide net income to cover the cost of regulators monitoring their compliance. The companies contended that the calculation, which considered user numbers and profit, resulted in a disproportionate financial burden.
The EU’s General Court sided with the tech giants, ruling that the Commission had used the wrong legal instrument to establish the fee formula. The judges stated that the methodology should have been adopted through a more formal “delegated act” as outlined in the DSA itself, rather than through an implementing decision. The court gave regulators 12 months to correct this procedural error and reformulate the levy using the proper legal channel.
Despite the legal victory, Meta and TikTok will not receive a refund for the fees they paid in 2023 while the Commission works on the new calculation. A Commission spokesperson downplayed the ruling, stating it confirmed the underlying fee methodology was “sound” and required only a “purely formal correction.” The spokesperson confirmed the body would now adopt a delegated act to formalize the fee calculation.
Both companies welcomed the court’s decision. A TikTok spokesperson said the company would “closely follow the development of the delegated act.” Meta’s spokesperson highlighted what it sees as a fundamental flaw in the current system, noting that loss-making companies with large user bases pay nothing, leaving profitable firms to shoulder a disproportionate share of the total regulatory cost. The ruling represents a procedural setback for EU regulators as they enforce their powerful new tech rules.
