WhatsApp Faces Tougher EU Rules As Users Top 45 Million (msn.com) 38
Meta's WhatsApp messaging service has surpassed 45 million users, earning the designation of a "Very Large Online Platform" under the EU's Digital Services Act. Bloomberg reports: WhatsApp's open channels, which are feeds affiliated with news outlets or public figures that under the DSA are comparable to a social network, averaged about 46.8 million monthly average users in the second half of 2024, Meta said in a filing on Feb. 14 that hasn't previously been reported. [...] The DSA content moderation rulebook imposes stricter requirements on very large online platforms, defined as those whose EU-based monthly active users exceed 45 million. Users of WhatsApp's core messaging feature do not count toward the designation under the DSA.
The commission would still need to rule that WhatsApp should be included in the more regulated tier. Under the DSA, very large online platforms must carry out risk assessments on the spread of illegal or harmful content, and put in place a mitigation strategy. Fines under the DSA can reach as much as 6% of a company's annual global sales. The DSA requires platforms to disclose user numbers every six months. Messaging service Telegram also published an update this week, saying that monthly EU users of its public channels are "significantly fewer than 45 million."
The commission would still need to rule that WhatsApp should be included in the more regulated tier. Under the DSA, very large online platforms must carry out risk assessments on the spread of illegal or harmful content, and put in place a mitigation strategy. Fines under the DSA can reach as much as 6% of a company's annual global sales. The DSA requires platforms to disclose user numbers every six months. Messaging service Telegram also published an update this week, saying that monthly EU users of its public channels are "significantly fewer than 45 million."
Re:FUCK THE REGEULATION (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd say the US does the same thing if a foreign social media app gets too popular, but we know that's not true. If a foreign social media app gets too popular, the US forces you to sell it to an American company or be shut down in the US. Of course, here it's done under the veneer of "national security".
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The administration that tried to force a sale is no longer in power.
The current administration put a hold on it for now. Maybe there was a sale and I missed the news. Who is the new owner?
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The administration that tried to force a sale is no longer in power.
The law requiring divestiture or shutdown has only been paused for 75 days. Unless congress gets off its ass and passes new legislation, the clock is still ticking.
America was happy with the idea of a global internet as long as it worked like this [reddit.com] for big tech.
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Ok cool, so the new administration put a pause on the old administration's actions so they can analyze the situation and decide what to do.
As of now no decision has been publicly announced.
What's the problem? The problem seems to be you disagree with the actions of the previous administration. That should make you a fan of the current administration who put a hold on those actions you don't like.
Either way, no sale has occurred.
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I am in favor of traffic laws, so long as I'm not getting tickets.
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The administration that tried to force a sale is no longer in power.
August 6, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/06... [npr.org]
September 19, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/1... [cnbc.com]
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Hi, maybe you're aware this is not 2020 and that is 2 administrations ago.
Thanks for joining. We appreciate your historical perspective regarding these issues.
Meow.
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Oh and that oracle sale, never happened. They put US data on Oracle servers.
Yawn.
Meow.
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U.S. President Donald J. Trump wrongly claims during a Press Conference earlier in Palm Beach, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has an Approval Rating of only 4%, while agreeing with Russia that Ukraine needs to hold a Presidential Election. President Trump then claims that Ukraine should have never started the War, despite Russia launching the Invasion, and that they should have made a “Deal” with Russia.
So so funny.
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The administration that tried to force a sale is no longer in power.
The current administration put a hold on it for now. Maybe there was a sale and I missed the news. Who is the new owner?
The previous administration just wanted them to sell it... the current one wants them to sell it to Musk.
Re:FUCK THE REGEULATION (Score:5, Insightful)
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Leaded gasoline explains the boomers and lately I'm suspecting its microplastics on anyone born after 1980.
Re: FUCK THE REGEULATION (Score:2)
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Sooo the 1960-1980 range is good ?
The free experimental period where everyone was taking drugs voluntarily? Yeah that wouldn't have lasting effects either... :-)
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also had the best pop music and jazz
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Allow me to rephrase this.
EU enforces laws on the books.
Re: FUCK THE REGEULATION (Score:2)
Simple solution (Score:4, Funny)
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Trim accounts? But what will this do to the valuation of the company, which is entirely based on the number of fake accounts it touts as real?
Re: Simple solution (Score:3)
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There are bots. It's one of WhatsApp's advertised features, the ability to use their businessAPI for customer engagement. For example where I live Dominos Pizza is a WhatsApp bot that provides realtime updates on your order. Incidentally they use WhatsApp for this since it's the default communication method in use in my country.
The only thing which should suprise you is the numbers are so slow. Whatsapp is the default text communication system used in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, and Germany. Be
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Just saying there was all kinds of funny business being done with agent, bots, but there was no disclosure nor did many people seem to notice... the ones that did? well, it's like M
Re: Simple solution (Score:2)
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Trim accounts? But what will this do to the valuation of the company, which is entirely based on the number of fake accounts it touts as real?
Yeah the thing about WhatsApp is it's not full of fake accounts. Since WhatsApp was fundamentally tied to a phone number and relies on that phone number existing and a 2FA code sent to it for activation it's quite an extra step to fake WhatsApp numbers.
For the record WhatsApp is about the only company I genuinely am not surprised at having such a high number of active users. It's the defacto communication standard for many countries in Europe where SMS has been relegated to 2FA codes.
Except... not even that
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Well, good for them. I'm somehow able to live in Europe and not use whatsoup without any inconvenience, so I guess it is possible.
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Europe isn't one place. It's a mix of many countries. Not all of them use WhatsApp. Different countries adopted different primary communications systems at different times. In the USA and Australia SMS ruled supreme. In Thailand it's Messenger. In India it's Telegram. In Brazil and many European countries it's WhatsApp.
Now my question to you is: Did you choose where to live based on the ways the people communicate? Or are you just patting yourself on the back because you happen to live somewhere where prima
not so standard - Signal also popular (Score:2)
Whatsapp is popular i Europe, sure. But especially in privacy-conscious Germany, Signal (with a better security record, and seemingly less problematic ownership) seems to be a quite popular choice.
Re:Simple solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Just trim out the accounts that haven’t been being used regularly.
The regulation already requires that. It's 45 million MONTHLY users.
Just 45 million? (Score:2)
Only now does it surpass 45 million?
Over here in Germany almost everyone has a WhatsApp account. Even my 87 years old grandma uses it.
Re:Just 45 million? (Score:4, Informative)
But your grandma is probably able to read full sentences and would have noticed, that it is not the number of users, but the subscribers of public channels which surpasses 45 million.
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45million monthly active users. Yeah many people have whatsapp but if they aren't sending messages they don't show up in the stat.