Meta and TikTok forced the EU to review technology fees for companies through court

Meta and TikTok have won a case against the EU's way of calculating the supervisory fee under technology rules, Reuters reports.

Meta and TikTok have filed a lawsuit against the European Commission after they were charged 0.05% of their annual turnover to cover the costs of supervising compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA).

European regulators determine the size of the annual fee by taking into account the average number of active users per month and the companies' financial results for the previous year. Meta and TikTok consider this methodology imperfect, as it leads to disproportionate charges.

The companies challenged the technology levy in the Luxembourg General Court, and the judge upheld their position. European regulators are due to review the methodology within a year based on another legal act. At the same time, the funds paid for 2023 are not yet refundable - this issue will be resolved after the development of new rules.

In turn, the European Commission insisted in court that its methodology for calculating fees is reasonable and does not contain problems either in the principle of charging or in the amount of payments.

In addition to Meta and TikTok, other technology companies, such as Google, Amazon, Booking, Microsoft, X Corp, and many others, must pay similar fees.