The verdict also lands as countries such as France are actively discussing restrictions on social media platforms for children.
The decision focuses particularly on WhatsApp Channels in which admins can broadcast announcements to groups of people in a feed, making it different from the messaging feature. WhatsApp’s private messaging service is explicitly excluded.
WhatsApp was aware that the decision was coming as far back as August, when it reported that Channels had approximately 51.7 million users in the EU. That crossed the EU’s threshold for Very Large Online Platforms with over 45 million users in the EU.
Meta now has four months to assess and mitigate systemic risks on its platform. Those risks include the spread of illegal content, as well as threats to civic discourse, elections, fundamental rights and health.
“WhatsApp Channels continue to grow in Europe and globally. As this expansion continues, we remain committed to evolving our safety and integrity measures in the region, ensuring they align with relevant regulatory expectations and our ongoing responsibility to users,” WhatsApp spokesperson Joshua Breckman said in a statement.