WhatsApp is a hybrid service comprising features of private messaging and of an online platform. WhatsApp Channels, the feature of WhatsApp that allows recipients to disseminate information, updates, and announcements to a broad audience of WhatsApp users, falls under the definition of an online platform service and is therefore already subject to the general DSA obligations that online platforms in the EU must respect. WhatsApp’s private messaging service, enabling users to send text messages, voice notes, photos, videos, and documents and make voice and video calls to other users, remains explicitly excluded from the application of the DSA.
Following the designation, Meta, the provider of WhatsApp, has four months, i.e. by mid-May 2026, to ensure WhatsApp complies with the additional DSA obligations for VLOPs. These obligations include duly assessing and mitigating any systemic risks, such as violations of fundamental human rights and freedom of expression, electoral manipulation, the dissemination of illegal content and privacy concerns, stemming from its services.
Under the DSA, services with more than 45 million average monthly active users in the EU are classified as VLOPs. WhatsApp reported that its Channels feature reached 51.7 million average monthly active users in the EU during the first half of 2025. While WhatsApp was long considered a private messaging app (traditionally exempt from certain DSA rules), the Commission now classifies it as a "hybrid service" due to the one-to-many broadcast nature of Channels.
Following its designation as a very large online platform, the Commission will be competent to supervise WhatsApp’s compliance with the DSA, in cooperation with Coimisiún na Meán, the Irish Digital Services Coordinator.
Read the Press Release here
Supervision of the designated very large online platforms and search engines under DSA
