WhatsApp to face tighter regulation under Digital Services Act

Messaging app likely to come under tighter regulation as it meets VLOP criteria

Life

Image: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is likely to become a victim of its own success in the EU as the hugely popular messaging platform comes under greater scrutiny.

According to Reuters, WhatsApp is going to be designated a ‘very large online platform’ (VLOP) as defined by the Digital Services Act.

In normal human terms, Facebook’s chat service has more than the required 45 million online users and therefore has a responsibility and duty under the law to keep out and remove harmful and misleading information.

We are not talking about private messages between users, but public WhatsApp channels. These can be found in the interface under Updates.

WhatsApp averaged about 51.7 million monthly active users on its WhatsApp channels in the European Union in the first six months of 2025.

The Commission confirmed that the investigation into the VLOP designation is still ongoing.

Emerce

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