European regulators are widening their enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), putting Apple, Google, Snap, and ByteDance under new scrutiny for how they protect minors online. The investigation, announced by the European Commission last week, could expose the companies to fines of up to 6% of their global revenue.

The Commission said it had requested information from Snapchat, YouTube, the Apple App Store, and Google Play on their age-verification systems and safeguards against exposing minors to illegal or harmful content. Information requests are the first procedural step toward potential enforcement actions under the DSA.

As reported by Law.com, the move marks another escalation in Europe’s push to hold large online platforms accountable for content moderation and design choices. Apple and Google, already facing multibillion-euro competition penalties, could see their legal exposure rise further under the EU’s new framework.

The DSA, which took effect in February 2024, applies to very large online platforms and search engines with more than 45 million users. It requires strict compliance on illegal content removal, user transparency, and risk mitigation. Failure to comply can result in fines calculated on total global turnover—making the stakes particularly high for U.S. tech firms.

“I would expect that in the near term, formal proceedings are launched if gaps emerge,” said Nathalie Moreno, a London-based partner at Kennedys. She noted that regulators are likely to demand “binding commitments or interim measures to tighten age-assurance, teen-safe defaults, and stricter app-store policing of developer compliance.”

Moreno pointed to earlier actions under the DSA against adult sites such as Pornhub and XVideos, where the Commission opened proceedings for inadequate age verification. “We’ve already seen the Commission use DSA tools against platforms with weak protections,” she said. The same approach, she added, could soon apply to mainstream consumer apps if deficiencies persist.

The new focus on youth safety aligns with a global shift in online regulation. Australia will soon implement the world’s first nationwide social media ban for users under 16, and Denmark announced a similar policy earlier this month. While the EU has yet to propose comparable restrictions, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her State of the Union address that Brussels is studying Australia’s model and will convene a panel of experts to assess potential next steps.

Big Tech’s response to the DSA has been twofold: compliance preparation and litigation. Amazon and Zalando have each challenged their classification under the law before the Court of Justice of the European Union. Zalando lost its case in September but plans to appeal. Amazon’s judgment is expected in the coming months. Meta and TikTok have also disputed regulatory fees tied to the cost of compliance monitoring.

Next week, Apple will mount its own challenge with representation from Freshfields and barristers from Monkton Chambers, arguing that the DSA should not apply to its App Store. The hearing underscores how central the DSA has become to the European Union’s digital governance strategy—and how aggressively major tech firms are pushing back.

For now, the Commission’s latest inquiries signal its intent to make child safety a central test of DSA compliance. If gaps are confirmed, the resulting penalties could rival the largest competition fines in EU history, cementing the DSA’s position as a defining legal battleground between regulators and global tech platforms.