Yazılar

Meta and TikTok Win EU Court Challenge on Tech Fees, Regulators Must Recalculate

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Meta Platforms and TikTok secured a legal victory on Wednesday against the European Commission over the way EU regulators calculated supervisory fees under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The General Court in Luxembourg ruled that the methodology used to determine the fees was flawed and must be reworked.

Both companies had challenged the 0.05% levy on annual worldwide net income, arguing the system unfairly imposed disproportionate costs. The fee is intended to fund the EU’s monitoring of large platforms’ compliance with the DSA, which requires them to better police harmful and illegal online content.

Court Ruling

The judges said the fee calculation method should have been set under a delegated act, rather than through implementing decisions, giving regulators 12 months to fix the legal framework. Importantly, the court said fees already paid for 2023 will not be reimbursed.

Reactions

  • The European Commission said the ruling requires only a “formal correction” and that it will adopt a delegated act to formalize the methodology.

  • TikTok welcomed the decision, pledging to monitor the new process.

  • Meta emphasized that the current system unfairly burdens profitable companies while large loss-making platforms avoid payment, despite imposing heavy regulatory costs.

Wider Context

The DSA, which came into effect in November 2022, gives the EU sweeping oversight powers and allows fines of up to 6% of global turnover for non-compliance. Other major platforms subject to supervisory fees include Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Booking.com, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, and Pinterest.

The cases were filed under references T-55/24 (Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission) and T-58/24 (TikTok Technology v Commission).

Roblox Unveils Short-Form Video App, Boosts Developer Payouts

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Roblox announced Friday the launch of a short-form video app and a raise in creator earnings, as the gaming platform seeks to deepen engagement and expand beyond gameplay.

The new app, called “Roblox Moments”, is now in beta. Modeled after TikTok, it will allow users to capture, edit, and share clips of gameplay on a centralized platform. The move could redirect the billions of views Roblox-related content currently receives on YouTube and other sites back into Roblox’s ecosystem, amplifying engagement among its 111.8 million daily active users.

At its developer conference, CEO David Baszucki also announced an 8.5% increase in developer cash-out rates when converting in-game currency Robux into real money. The adjustment comes as Roblox leans harder into supporting its creator economy, which generated over $1 billion for developers in the past year, with more than 100 games surpassing $1 million annually.

Roblox has been evolving into a multifunctional platform—a space for gaming, socializing, advertising, and commerce. Earlier this year, it launched new advertising formats and struck a partnership with Google to grow its ad business and create additional revenue streams for creators.

By combining short-form content with more generous payouts, Roblox is positioning itself as both a creator-friendly platform and a competitor in the broader social media and entertainment space.

ByteDance Shifts Chip Design Staff to Singapore Unit Amid U.S.-China Tensions

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Chip designers at ByteDance, many based in Beijing and Shanghai, were surprised last week to learn they are officially reporting into a Singapore unit, according to three people familiar with the matter. The change became clear when staff were reassigned into a new group on the company’s internal messaging system.

Analysts suggest the restructuring could help ByteDance navigate U.S.-China trade restrictions on semiconductor access. Since late 2023, U.S. rules have barred mainland Chinese firms from using Taiwan’s TSMC to manufacture advanced AI chips above certain performance thresholds. Shifting oversight to Singapore may allow ByteDance more flexibility in securing partnerships and production.

ByteDance, best known globally for TikTok, has been expanding into proprietary chip design since 2022, developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to reduce reliance on suppliers like Nvidia. The company has worked with Broadcom on AI processors intended for TSMC fabrication, though it does not currently outsource manufacturing to the Taiwanese firm.

The Singapore entity may be linked to Picoheart, a ByteDance subsidiary registered in December 2023. Picoheart drew notice last year when it acquired a 9.5% stake in Chinese memory chipmaker Innostar. Singapore also hosts TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew and some of ByteDance’s largest data centers.

So far, ByteDance’s chips are limited to inference tasks, such as video decoding and networking, rather than the more computationally intensive AI training workloads where rivals like Alibaba and Baidu have advanced further. Job postings indicate ByteDance is still hiring for its AI chip team as it tries to catch up in the strategic semiconductor race.