Google’s Waze Qualifies For More Stringent EU Rules

Google-owned navigation platform Waze is to fall under stricter rules from the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) after it reported user figures that surpass a key threshold.

The Israel-developed app, bought by Google in 2013 for $1.3 billion (£1bn), had 50.5 million average monthly users from July to December 2024, according to a Google filing from this month.

Companies with more than 45 million users qualify as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the DSA.

‘Gatekeeper’ rules

The designation requires ‘gatekeeper’ companies to comply with more stringent provisions of the DSA, such as taking a more active stance against online content, maintaining a public archive of advertisements and allowing users to opt out of profile-based recommendations.

Companies already designated as VLOPs include Amazon, Alibaba’s AliExpress, Apple’s App Store, various Google properties including Google Maps and Google Play, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.

A European Commission spokesman confirmed the agency was aware that Waze had published user figures above the VLOP threshold.

The Commission is expected to issue an update on Waze’s VLOP designation in about two months after verifying the figures.

An initial list of companies were designated as VLOPs in August 2023 and the Commission has since begun the complex process of enforcing the rules.

Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is currently contesting Commission findings from last July that it breaches the DSA rules in areas such as “dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers”.

Enforcement

The company appealed a preliminary injunction by a German court under which two activist groups sought to gain access to real-time election data ahead of Sunday’s elections, in an ongoing case that could provide a legal precedent for future decisions.

Last year TikTok agreed to permanently withdraw a rewards programme from the EU after the bloc raised concerns about what the Commission called the feature’s potentially “addictive effect”.

The move was the first resolution of a case under the DSA.