European Court Gives Meta and TikTok Time to Revise EU Fee Calculation Method

Staff Reporter | PNN:
Brussels, September 10: Meta Platforms and TikTok have won a legal case against the European Union (EU) regulators regarding the fee calculation method. However, they will not receive refunds for the 2023 fees until the new method is implemented.

Meta and TikTok filed the case against the European Commission, arguing that the oversight fee set at 0.05% of their annual global net revenue under the Digital Services Act (DSA) was not properly calculated. The fee methodology considers the number of monthly active users and the profit or loss of the previous financial year. The companies claimed that this method was inappropriate and resulted in unfair fee imposition.

The General Court of Luxembourg ruled in favor of Meta and TikTok, granting EU regulators 12 months to revise the method. The court stated, “Instead of being implemented based on an executive decision, the method should have been adopted through a delegated act.”

The court also directed that the companies are not required to be refunded for the 2023 fees until new legislation is enacted. The European Commission responded that the fee calculation principles and amounts are correct and that only procedural adjustments are needed.

The DSA, effective since November 2022, requires very large online platforms to take strict measures against illegal and harmful content; otherwise, they may face fines of up to 6% of their annual global revenue.