Snapchat
Under an open proceeding opened in March 2026 into age assurance and the protection of minors.
- Tier
- VLOP — very large online platform
- Provider
- Snap B.V.
- Sector
- Social
- Designated
- 25 April 2023
- Obligations from
- 25 August 2023
- EU users at designation
- 102 million
- Formal proceedings
- 1
- Court challenges
- None
Designated 25 April 2023 on 102 million average monthly active recipients in the Union.
The Commission opened proceedings on 26 March 2026 into age assurance, the default settings applied to minors’ accounts, and content moderation.
Where Snapchat sits in the tier
Designation is not a ranking, and the obligations do not scale with size: the smallest designated service carries exactly the same duties in Articles 33 to 43 as the largest.
Amplification, minors, and civic discourse
For a feed-based platform the Article 34 assessment lands squarely on the recommender system: how ranking and amplification shape what spreads, and whether that design contributes to the dissemination of illegal content or to negative effects on civic discourse and electoral processes.
Article 38 requires at least one feed option not based on profiling, directly accessible from the interface where recommendations appear. Article 27, which applies to all online platforms, separately requires the main parameters of the recommender to be explained in the terms.
Article 28 and the July 2025 minors guidelines add a design layer: default settings for minors’ accounts, age assurance, and features that extend engagement are all in scope, and are the subject of several open proceedings.
- Article 27
- Recommender transparency, applying to all online platforms.
- Article 28
- Protection of minors, including default account settings.
Formal proceedings
Age assurance, minors’ account settings and content moderation
OpenOpened 26 March 2026
- ·Age assurance methods
- ·Default settings applied to minors’ accounts
- ·Content moderation adequacy
Snapchat timeline
- 25 April 2023 Designated a VLOP by Commission decision.
- 25 August 2023 Articles 33 to 43 begin to apply, four months after notification.
- 26 March 2026 Formal proceedings opened.
What Snapchat has to do
Designation applies the asymmetric obligations in Articles 33 to 43. They are the same for every designated service, read against a platform surface. Terms used on this page are collected in the glossary.
- Article 34 Systemic risk assessment
- Article 35 Mitigation of risks
- Article 37 Independent audit
- Article 38 Recommender systems without profiling
- Article 39 Advertising repository
- Article 40 Data access for the Commission and vetted researchers
- Article 41 Internal compliance function
- Article 42 Transparency reporting
- Article 43 Supervisory fee
Related designations
Other social services in the tier: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, X, Reddit, LinkedIn.
Designated on the same day (25 April 2023): Google Search, Bing, YouTube, Google Play, Google Maps, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon Store, Wikipedia, TikTok, Pinterest, App Store, X, AliExpress, Zalando, Google Shopping, LinkedIn, Booking.com.