The European Commission has formally designated WhatsApp as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a decision that has direct implications for businesses using WhatsApp Channels as a customer experience and communications channel.
The designation is triggered by WhatsApp Channels exceeding the DSA threshold of 45 million monthly active users in the EU.
While WhatsApp combines private messaging with broadcast-style features, the Commission drew a clear regulatory line between the two. WhatsApp Channels—which enable organizations, brands, media outlets and public bodies to distribute updates and announcements to large audiences—fall within the definition of an online platform service and are subject to the DSA. WhatsApp’s private, end-to-end encrypted messaging and calling services remain explicitly excluded from the regulation.
In its statement, the Commission noted that WhatsApp Channels “allows recipients to disseminate information, updates and announcements to a broad audience of WhatsApp users,” and is already defined as an online platform service subject to the general DSA obligations.
“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 include assessing and mitigating systemic risks linked to the service, such as violations of fundamental rights, threats to freedom of expression, electoral manipulation, the dissemination of illegal content and privacy concerns.
A WhatsApp spokesperson stated:
“WhatsApp channels continue to grow in Europe and globally. As this expansion continues, we remain committed to evolving our safety and integrity measures in the region, ensuring they align with relevant regulatory expectations and our ongoing responsibility to users.”
The statement underscores Meta’s positioning of Channels as a scaled communication feature that will increasingly sit alongside formal regulatory and trust frameworks as adoption by organizations and brands continues to rise.
For businesses using WhatsApp Channels as part of their customer experience strategy, the decision does not create direct new compliance obligations. However, it is likely to shape how the channel is governed and operated.
Increased regulatory oversight could result in stricter content moderation, enhanced transparency measures and more formalized risk management processes at the platform level.
Brands using Channels for service notifications, customer updates, product announcements or community engagement should expect greater emphasis on compliant content practices and user protection.
The decision also reinforces the classification of Channels as a broadcast platform rather than a private messaging tool, with implications for consent management, audience targeting and CX design.
Customer Data Privacy Becomes Central to Digital CX Under DSA
Businesses are increasingly using WhatsApp as a primary customer experience channel rather than a standalone support tool, embedding it across sales, service and engagement journeys. And vendors are expanding WhatsApp’s role through automation and AI-driven tooling. Platforms such as Omnichat enable businesses to deploy AI agents within WhatsApp to handle service enquiries, manage outbound notifications, support conversational commerce and integrate messaging data with CRM and analytics systems.
This approach has been widely adopted in Asia, where WhatsApp-style messaging has long been central to digital commerce and customer service, and is now gaining momentum in Europe as brands look to meet rising expectations for convenient, conversational engagement.
The Digital Services Act establishes a single set of rules for online services operating in the EU, including social networks, marketplaces and app-based platforms used by consumers in everyday life.
It aims to create a digital environment that protects fundamental rights, improves transparency and limits the spread of illegal and harmful content, while giving businesses legal certainty to scale across the EU.
Obligations under the DSA are proportionate to a service’s size and impact, with the largest platforms—those reaching more than 45 million users, like WhatsApp—facing additional requirements to identify and mitigate systemic risks.
The decision also reflects the EU’s broader regulatory focus on customer data protection as a core component of digital experience design.
Alongside the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the DSA reinforces expectations that platforms minimize privacy risks, limit misuse of personal data and give users clearer control over how their information is handled.
For CX teams, this translates into greater scrutiny of how customer data is collected, used and surfaced across engagement channels. Messaging-based customer interactions, in particular, sit at the intersection of convenience and sensitivity, increasing the importance of consent, transparency and trust in how customer relationships are managed.
As a designated very large online platform, WhatsApp will now be directly supervised by the European Commission for its compliance with the DSA, working in cooperation with Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, in its role as Digital Services Coordinator.
The designation highlights a broader shift in how messaging-based engagement is treated in Europe. High-reach customer communication channels are now firmly within the EU’s regulatory perimeter, placing trust, accountability, data protection and governance alongside reach and responsiveness as core pillars of digital customer experience.
