Under the Digital Services Act, online platforms disclose their MAUs in the EU: YouTube has 401M+, Facebook ~255M, Instagram ~250M, TikTok 150M, Twitter 100.9M
PoliticoClothilde Goujard
Context & Ripple Effects
The disclosures create a common EU reach snapshot across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, rather than relying on each platform's separate audience claims. TikTok's reported 150M EU users also extends its earlier 100M-user Europe milestone.
The figure becomes a baseline for tracking TikTok against larger established services: later coverage reported TikTok passing 200M users in Europe, while YouTube's disclosed EU audience was already above 401M.
First-order effects
YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter put comparable EU monthly-user figures into the public record, with YouTube the largest disclosed service and Twitter the smallest among those named.
The EU gains a disclosed audience baseline for platforms operating at very different scales, including TikTok's 150M reported users.
Second-order effects
TikTok's EU growth can be measured against its own earlier 100M milestone and against the larger reported audiences of YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, sharpening the competitive benchmark for audience attention.
Repeated disclosures give platform observers a consistent way to distinguish changes in reported European reach from global or US audience figures, such as TikTok's separately reported US user base.
Third-order effects
If these disclosures continue, EU platform governance will increasingly rest on recurring, comparable scale metrics rather than opaque company-reported global totals.
A common reporting baseline makes shifts in relative platform reach more visible, particularly as fast-growing services such as TikTok close the gap with established social and video platforms.
The trend: EU platform oversight is moving toward standardized audience disclosure that makes the relative scale and growth of major online services easier to track.
Twitter Transparency Center
Twitter Transparency Center on x
AMARS in the EU — Twitter Average Monthly Active Recipients of Service (AMARS) in the EU
@clothildegouj
Clothilde Goujard on x
POLITICO's brilliant @gi_coi has made some charts comparing some of the different online platforms opening up about their number of EU users under the Digital Services Act. We'll also update them as we go. https://www.politico.eu/...
@kelseylh
Kelsey L. Hayes on x
The usual suspects are poised to fall under the purview of the EU's Digital Services Act, from @clothildegouj https://www.politico.eu/...
@benedictevans
Benedict Evans on x
In the EU 40% of Twitter, users are not logged in. There's a whole parallel use model that has nothing to do with the stuff that people actually on Twitter experience. https://transparency.twitter.com/ ...
@bertuzluca
Luca Bertuzzi on x
#DSA: As expected, Twitter is well above the 45 million thresholds to qualify as a very large online platform. https://transparency.twitter.com/ ...
@claesdevreese
Claes de Vreese on x
🚨Just in: Twitter published the Average Monthly Active Recipients of Service (AMARS) in 🇪🇺 Twitter is a Very Large Online Platform VLOP. This means FULL compliance with the Digital Services Act DSA within 4 months, including data access for researchers. https://transparency.twitt…
@rebekahktromble
Rebekah Tromble on x
Twitter officially qualifies as a “Very Large Online Platform” (VLOP) in the EU, meaning it is subject to the most stringent requirements of the Digital Services Act. That includes Article 40 on data access for vetted researchers. https://transparency.twitter.com/ ...
@markscott82
Mark Scott on x
Stat of the Day: @Twitter has 101m users within the EU - 59.8m who log in & 41.1m ‘logged out guests’ First time Blue Bird has made those figures public & means @elonmusk has to comply with EU's tough content rules https://transparency.twitter.com/ ...
@markscott82
Mark Scott on x
Stats of the Day: @Facebook confirms it has 255m monthly active users in the European Union, and @instagram has 250m — first time @Meta has ever confirmed those numbers. Takeaway: both FB & Insta must comply with Europe's content rules as “very large online platforms”