Meta Platforms and TikTok have taken legal action against the European Union, arguing that the supervisory fee imposed under the Digital Services Act (DSA) is excessive and calculated using flawed methods. The DSA, which became law in 2022, requires major tech companies—including Meta, TikTok, and 16 others—to pay an annual fee equal to 0.05% of their global net income. This fee is meant to cover the European Commission’s costs for enforcing compliance.
The fee is determined based on a company’s average monthly active users and whether it made a profit in the previous year. During a hearing at the EU’s General Court, Meta’s lawyer, Assimakis Komninos, argued that the fee calculation was opaque and based on the entire group’s revenue, not the individual subsidiary, which he said goes against the law’s intention. He claimed the process lacked transparency and resulted in absurd outcomes.
Read more: Meta Invests $14B in Scale AI After Disappointment with Llama Models
TikTok’s legal team shared similar concerns. Lawyer Bill Batchelor criticized the methodology used, alleging it produced inflated and unfair fees. He argued that the Commission’s counting method double-counts users who switch devices, unfairly increasing TikTok’s obligations. He also claimed the Commission overstepped its authority by capping the fee based on group-wide profits.
In defense, European Commission lawyer Lorna Armati said the use of group financials was justified since those are the resources available to bear the costs. She insisted that the companies were provided with enough information and that there was no unequal treatment.
The EU General Court is expected to announce its verdict on these cases—T-55/24 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission and T-58/24 TikTok Technology v Commission—sometime next year.
