The Digital Services Coordinator at the Bundesnetzagentur welcomes the European Commission's ruling on TikTok and X
European cooperation under the Digital Services Act is proving to be effective.
Year of issue 2025
Date of issue 2025.12.05
The Digital Services Coordinator at the Bundesnetzagentur (DSC) welcomes the European Commission’s rulings against the online platforms X and TikTok for their violation of various provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The national DSCs have actively supported the Commission's proceedings. The result shows that cooperation throughout the EU between DSCs and the European Commission is effective. The authorities jointly ensure that online platforms comply with the DSA regulations and rigorously pursue violations.
On 18 December 2023 the European Commission opened formal proceedings against X pursuant to the DSA. With its ruling today, the European Commission found that X violated the DSA in the areas of manipulative and misleading design of its services, advertising transparency and access to data for researchers. Today the European Commission imposed a fine of €120mn on X.
In its preliminary finding of 15 May 2025, the European Commission had stated that the design of the TikTok advertising repository violates the DSA’s transparency provisions. With today’s decision the European Commission accepts the commitments submitted by TikTok to ensure the transparency of its advertising practices. TikTok must implement the individual commitments within certain deadlines in a maximum of 12 months.
The European Commission is also investigating both companies for other possible violations of the DSA. Information about the European Commission’s ongoing proceedings is available at: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/list-designated-vlops-and-vloses.
DSCs support the European Commission’s investigations
The national DSCs are required to cooperate and coordinate with each other and with the European Commission to ensure uniform application and enforcement of the DSA rules in all EU Member States. For this purpose they provide the European Commission, after having been informed of the initiation of a formal procedure, with all available information on the possible violations.
Tasks of the Digital Services Coordinator at the Bundesnetzagentur
The DSC, based at the Bundesnetzagentur, is the central coordinating body for enforcement of the DSA in Germany. It monitors intermediary services established in Germany, including online platforms, for compliance with their obligations. It acts as a central point for complaints by online users about infringements of the DSA and coordinates cooperation between competent authorities in Germany and the EU. The DSC also certifies out-of-court dispute settlement bodies and trusted flaggers. It handles applications by researchers to gain access to the data of very large online platforms and search engines.
In its enforcement of the DSA, the DSC works together with the Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection in the Media (BzKJ), the state media authorities and the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).