Tech giants together with Facebook, Google, Twitter and TikTok face stricter on-line content material guidelines within the European Union resulting from their enormous variety of customers.

The new guidelines, often known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), classify firms with greater than 45 million customers as very massive on-line platforms (VLOPs) and require them to do danger administration and exterior and impartial auditing.

They may even need to share knowledge with authorities and researchers and undertake a code of conduct.

The European Commission had given on-line platforms and search engines like google and yahoo till Feb. 17 to publish their month-to-month lively customers. Those labelled as VLOPs have 4 months to adjust to the principles or danger fines.

Twitter on Thursday stated it had 100.9 million common month-to-month customers within the EU, based mostly on an estimation of the final 45 days.

Google proprietor Alphabet offered one set of numbers based mostly on customers’ accounts and one other set based mostly on signed-out recipients, saying customers can entry its companies whether or not they sign up to an account or are signed out.

It stated the typical month-to-month variety of signed-in customers totalled 278.6 million at Google Maps, 274.6 million at Google Play, 332 million at Google Search, 74.9 million at Shopping and 401.7 million at YouTube.

Apple stated solely its App Store constructed for its iPhones, with greater than 45 million month-to-month customers, certified as a really massive on-line platform. But it would additionally apply the identical guidelines to the App Store for iPads, Mac computer systems, Apple Watch and TV, and to its Apple Books e-books and podcasts paid subscriptions.

“Apple intends, on an entirely voluntary basis, to align each of the existing versions of the App Store (including those that do not currently meet the VLOP designation threshold) with the existing DSA requirements for VLOPs,” it stated on its web site.

Amazon stated it had greater than 45 million customers within the EU, whereas Microsoft stated its Bing search engine had 107 million common month-to-month customers within the final six months of 2022.

Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce web site AliExpress stated its common month-to-month lively customers within the EU was above 45 million from Aug. 1 final 12 months to Jan. 31 this 12 months.

TikTok has 100.9 million common month-to-month customers within the EU based mostly on an estimation of the final 45 days.

Ebay stated it was beneath the EU consumer threshold.

Meta Platforms has stated it had 255 million common month-to-month lively customers on Facebook within the EU and about 250 million common month-to-month lively customers on Instagram within the final six months of 2022. Companies must report consumer numbers each six months.