He added that it’s now up to Virkkunen, who hails from the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), to wrap up EU investigations and crack down on U.S. tech behemoths through the DSA.
“We want to see the same approach from … Virkkunen, when it comes to the Digital Services Act, and the conclusion of the investigation into breaches by X, TikTok and Meta of the rules that protect our citizens online,” Saliba said.
Ribera and Virkkunen jointly oversee DMA enforcement, while Virkkunen has sole responsibility for DSA enforcement.
Brussels has opened content-moderation probes into companies such as X, Meta, and TikTok over a wide array of issues, such as deceptive design, failing to protect minors and election interference.
Last summer, X was found in preliminary breach of the DSA for deceptive design and insufficient access to data and transparency, but that finding hasn’t led to a fine yet, feeding suspicions that Brussels is holding off because of close ties between U.S. President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk.
U.S. tech executives, like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, have pushed back against the EU’s tech probes, arguing they can be compared to tariffs in a bid to tie enforcement of tech rules into Trump’s unfolding trade war.
Earlier this week, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told POLITICO that the bloc stands ready to enforce its full digital rulebook, referring to probes under both the DMA and the DSA.