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Compliance with the risk management obligations is mandatory in the EU-wide digital transition system: presently, the attention is on mitigated risks associated with the deployment of Grok’s functionalities into X platform. It includes risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, as well as content that could amount to child sexual abuse’s material. Commission’s investigation will assess “mitigated risks” associated with the deployment of Grok’s functionalities into X; besides, the Commission designates WhatsApp as a Very Large Online Platform.
Background
The EU Digital Services Act, DSA introduces rules for online services used by European citizens in their everyday life. These services include marketplaces, social media networks, app stores, and online travel and accommodation platforms.
The DSA’s main goal is to create a digital space that respects citizens and consumers’ fundamental rights. By establishing a clear set of rules across the EU, the DSA also enables smaller platforms, SMEs and start-ups to scale up in Europe, fostering innovation, growth and competitiveness.
The DSA and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) complement each other. The DMA includes rules for gatekeeper online platforms. Gatekeepers function as bottlenecks between businesses and consumers for digital services, affecting competition and the functioning of the EU internal market. Some of these services are also covered in the DSA, but for different reasons and with different types of provisions.
The Commission enforces the DSA together with Digital Services Coordinators – national authorities who supervise the compliance of the platforms established in their territory. The Commission is primarily responsible for the monitoring and enforcement of the additional obligations applying to the biggest platforms and search engines, such as the measures to mitigate systemic risks. Digital Services Coordinators supervise and enforce compliance with the DSA in their Member States.
Source and citation from: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act
Grok is an artificial intelligence (‘AI’) tool developed by the provider of X. Since 2024, X has deployed Grok in its platform in various ways. These deployments, for example, enable users to generate text and images and to provide contextual information to users’ posts.
Note. Twitter’s transformation into “X” marked a significant shift in the social media platform’s identity and vision. This change, spearheaded by Elon Musk following his $44 billion acquisition in 2022, aims to evolve Twitter into an “everything app” called X. The Roman numeral X represents the number 10; in mathematics, x is commonly used to indicate certain independent variables or unknown values. The modern tradition of using x, y, and z to represent an unknown (incognita) was introduced by René Descartes in his famous “La Géométrie”, 1637.
More in: https://x.com/socialmedia2day
As a designated very large online platform (VLOP) under the DSA, X has the obligations to assess and mitigate any potential systemic risks related to its services in the EU. These risks include the spread of illegal content and potential threats to fundamental rights, including of minors, posed by its platform and features.
This investigation complements and extends the investigation launched on 18 December 2023, which focuses on the functioning of X’s notice and action mechanism, its mitigation measures against illegal content, such as terrorist material, in the EU, and risks associated with its recommender systems.
These Commission’s proceedings covered also the use of deceptive design, the lack of advertising transparency and insufficient data access for researchers, for which the Commission adopted a non-compliance decision on 5 December 2025, fining X €120 million. On 19 September, the Commission sent to X a request for information related to Grok, including also questions in relation to the antisemitic content generated by @grok in mid-2025.
The DSA requires all providers of online platforms, except small and micro-enterprises, to publish the number of monthly users of their services in the EU and to update it every 6 months. This obligation took effect on 17 February 2023. The data coming from this self-assessment was fundamental to designate the first Very Large Operating Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) and will continue to be important in monitoring the landscape of intermediary service providers. The Commission may use also other information available to it when monitoring the number of monthly users of platform services in the EU.
Note. Help and support is available at national level for individuals who have been negatively affected by AI-generated images, including child sexual abuse material or non-consensual intimate images. Under the DSA, citizens have the right to make a complaint about a breach of the DSA to the Digital Services Coordinator of their corresponding member states.
First -investigating Grok and X
The new Commission’s investigation will assess whether the company properly assessed and mitigated risks associated with the deployment of Grok’s functionalities into X in the EU. This includes risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that may amount to child sexual abuse material.
These risks seem to have materialised, exposing citizens in the EU to serious harm. In light of this, the Commission will further investigate whether X complies with its DSA obligations to:
Diligently assess and mitigate systemic risks, including of the dissemination of illegal content, negative effects in relation to gender-based violence, and serious negative consequences to physical and mental well-being stemming from deployments of Grok’s functionalities into its platform.
If proven, these failures would constitute infringements of DSA’s articles 34(1-2), 35(1) and 42(2); the Commission will now carry out an in-depth investigation as a matter of priority.
Reference to: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_203
Second – WhatsApp as a Very Large Platform
The Commission designates WhatsApp as Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act. 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, 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.
Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-designates-whatsapp-very-large-online-platform-under-digital-services-act
Enhancing digital transparency online
The Digital Services Act details a range of actions to promote transparency and accountability of online services, without hindering innovation and competitiveness.
Starting from February 2024, and at least once a year, all providers of intermediary services are obliged to make reports on their content moderation publicly available. The reports would include information on their content moderation practices, such as the number of orders they received from all relevant national judicial or administrative authorities, of what measures their content moderation practices consist, the number of pieces of content taken down, and the accuracy and rate of error of their automated content moderation systems. In addition, hosting providers need to provide the number of notices platforms received from users and trusted flaggers whereas online platforms also have to provide information on out-of-court dispute settlements and the number of suspensions imposed on users for misusing their services.
In view of additional risks relating to their activities, their size, and impact and of their additional obligations under this Regulation, further transparency requirements apply to VLOPs and VLOSEs.
In particular, VLOPs and VLOSEs must publish their transparency reports at least every six months. The reports must also include information on their content moderation teams, including their qualifications and linguistic expertise.
VLOPs and VLOSEs have had to publish their first reports at the end of October 2023, including the additional transparency requirements after six months after their designation.
Thus, for example, Shein (as a global online fashion and lifestyle retailer, offering a full range of ever-evolving products centered around customers’ needs) was designated in April 2024 and the deadline for their first transparency report was October 2024. Similarly, Temu platform was designated in May 2024 and the deadline for their first transparency report was November 2024. Still another platform -XNXX- was designated in July 2024 and the deadline for the first transparency report was December 2024. These reports continue to provide valuable insights into the practices and outcomes of content moderation by these major digital players.
In November 2024, the Commission adopted an implementing regulation laying down templates for the transparency reports, including harmonised reporting periods. The implementing regulation also provides guidance to fill the templates and ensures that the transparency reports of the providers are comparable; the implementing regulation has been in force since 1 July 2025.
In September 2025, the Commission launched the DSA Transparency Database, which collects and makes publicly available statements of reasons almost in real time to enable scrutiny over the content moderation decisions of providers of online platforms. Everyone can access the DSA’s Transparency Database website and search for, read, and download the statements of reasons.
Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/dsa-brings-transparency
More on the “Supervision of the designated very large online platforms and search engines under DSA”, in: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/list-designated-vlops-and-vloses
good thanks