The European Commission on Monday said it had formally designated Meta Platform’s WhatsApp as a very large platform under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), making it more responsible for tackling illegal and harmful content.

The Commission said earlier this month it was considering such a move, as WhatsApp had 51.7 million average monthly active users of its channels in the EU in the first six months of 2025, above the 45-million-user threshold set out in the DSA.

The DSA requires such large platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content. Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, TikTok, Temu and Microsoft’s LinkedIn are some of the companies labelled as very large online platforms under the DSA subject to this requirement.

“Following the designation, Meta, the provider of WhatsApp, has four months, i.e. by mid-May 2026, to ensure WhatsApp complies with the additional DSA obligations for VLOPs,” the Commission said in a statement.