BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday that US Big Tech giant Meta and Chinese-owned social media app TikTok breach their obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the Digital Services Act (DSA) according to its preliminary findings.
In a statement, the Commission also said that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram do not appear to provide a user-friendly and easily accessible mechanism for users to flag illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material and terrorist content.
The EU has cracked down on Big Tech companies with the Digital Services Act, which requires large platforms such as social media sites and search engines to have robust measures to mitigate the spread of illegal and harmful content.
“The Commission’s preliminary findings show that Facebook, Instagram and TikTok may have put in place burdensome procedures and tools for researchers to request access to public data,” the EU executive said about the transparency issue.
“Allowing researchers access to platforms’ data is an essential transparency obligation under the DSA, as it provides public scrutiny into the potential impact of platforms on our physical and mental health.”
