In the Social Media Wars, Washington, Not Brussels, is the Victor

In a world dominated by social media, Washington and Brussels are taking vastly different approaches to corral these new Masters of the Universe.

In Washington, the United States is on the verge of wresting TikTok’s American operations out of the hands of ByteDance, its China-linked parent company. Details of the proposed $14 billion deal are sketchy. But a White House executive order explained how US investors would take the helm of one of the country’s most important social media platforms under a scheme the Trump administration claimed would ward off national security threats and keep Americans’ data secure from China.

In Brussels, the European Union is two years into the implementation of its Digital Services Act (DSA). That includes reams of ongoing investigations, risk and transparency reports and lengthy audits into how global platforms — including TikTok — safeguard people’s fundamental rights and protect individuals from illegal content. Despite a focus on US social media giants, the majority of early-stage charges under the DSA have targeted Chinese firms like Temu, ByteDance and AliExpress.

This transatlantic split on digital governance is driven by contradictory goals from EU and American officials.

For the US, the aim is to hobble a geopolitical rival in China — a stated aim of the lawmakers that crafted the legislation requiring the TikTok divestiture, which raised concerns Beijing would use TikTok to spread propaganda across the US. ByteDance denies that allegation.

For Europe, the goal is to hold some of the world’s most powerful companies accountable for their internal trust and safety policies. That’s an area all firms have pulled back on, including laying off, collectively, tens of thousands of workers, as well as reneging on online safety and transparency commitments.

So far, it’s Washington — not Brussels — that has proven more successful in achieving its goals for platform governance.