Court sides with Meta and TikTok in case challenging EU tech regulation fee

Meta and TikTok challenged the Commission’s method for calculating the fee, arguing that it was flawed and led to an unfair financial burden

by e4m Staff
Published: Sep 10, 2025 3:50 PM | 2 min read

Meta Platforms and TikTok have won a legal case against the European Union regarding a supervisory fee imposed under the bloc’s new digital regulations. The decision was issued on September 10 by the EU's General Court, based in Luxembourg.

The dispute arose after the European Commission required major online platforms, including Meta and TikTok (owned by ByteDance), to pay an annual fee amounting to 0.05% of their global net income. The fee was intended to cover the EU’s costs in overseeing compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA), a key piece of legislation aimed at regulating digital platforms.

Meta and TikTok challenged the Commission’s method for calculating the fee, arguing that it was flawed and led to an unfair financial burden. The fee was based on factors such as the number of monthly active users and the company’s profit or loss in the previous year.

The court agreed with the companies, ruling that the European Commission had used the wrong legal process to set the fee calculation method. According to the judgment, the methodology should have been introduced through a formal "delegated act" rather than through implementation decisions, as required under the DSA.

The court has given the European Commission 12 months to revise its approach and adopt a new legal basis for calculating the fee. However, the judges also stated that the fees already paid by Meta and TikTok for 2023 do not need to be refunded at this time.