The list -- on which services from Amazon, Google, Meta,
Instagram and Microsoft also feature -- all have more than 45 million monthly
active users.
That puts them in a category under a new EU law, known as
the Digital Services Act (DSA), imposing measures from August such as annual
audits and a duty to effectively counter disinformation and hate content.
In four months' time, "these platforms and search
engines will not be able to act as if they were 'too big to care'," Thierry
Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, said in a statement.
"This new supervision system will cast a wide and tight
net and catch all points of failure in a platform's compliance," he added.
Platforms meeting the 45-million-plus threshold include
Twitter, owned by US billionaire Elon Musk); Alphabet's Google Search, Google
Maps, Google Shopping and Google Play units as well as its YouTube subsidiary;
and Meta's Facebook and Instagram.
Others are Microsoft's LinkedIn, Apple's iOS App Store, online
encyclopedia Wikipedia, messaging app Snapchat and creative image website
Pinterest.
Under the DSA, they are categorised as a "Very Large
Online Platform" (VLOP) or a "Very Large Online Search Engine"
(VLOSE).
Most of the companies on the list are US-based, but
Chinese-owned platforms TikTok and e-commerce site AliExpress also feature.
The commission also listed German online fashion retailer
Zalando.
Huge fines
Breton told journalists on Tuesday his team will hold
"stress tests" to check Twitter's compliance readiness "at the
end of June".
He added that TikTok had also expressed an interest in
cooperating to ensure compliance.
Tuesday's announcement follows a deadline in February for
online companies to publish user figures in Europe.
The DSA has a wide range of objectives, including forcing
platforms to better protect children, strengthen transparency around digital
services, prohibit the sale online of unsafe goods and allow users to have
greater choice when online in the EU.
The rules allow the EU to impose fines of up to six percent
of the platforms' annual global sales for repeated infringements.
By August 25, 2023 the 19 platforms must have an independent
compliance system in place and give their first annual risk assessment to the
European Commission, including how they plan to handle content on mental health
and gender-based violence.
There will then be an independent audit and oversight by the
commission.
Commission vice president Margrethe Vestager said the
designations were a "huge step forward" for the DSA to bring
"meaningful transparency and accountability of platforms and search
engines and give consumers more control".
Online platforms declaring themselves below the 45-million
user threshold include Swedish music-streaming site Spotify, US dating app
Tinder and home-rental platform Airbnb.
Breton said "four to five" more platforms could be
added to the list "in the coming weeks" but refused to name which
ones.
The DSA is one of two major laws the EU passed last year to
rein in digital platforms to protect EU users.
The special obligations for very large platforms are in
addition to the DSA rules that will apply to all from February 17, 2024.
The second law, the Digital Markets Act, prohibits
anti-competitive behaviour by so-called "gatekeepers" of the
internet.