Platform Enforcement IndexJuly 2026
Enforcement volume fell 9% — but regulators escalated, converging on child safety. Total DSA-reported enforcement eased to 103.6M decisions in July 2026 (−9% MoM), led by double-digit falls at Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram — yet violence actions jumped 85%. Meanwhile the EU fined Google €890M under the DMA and issued preliminary DSA breach findings against Meta and TikTok, with the safety of minors the recurring theme.
The Cross-Source Story
Three independent datasets, one direction. No single source tells this story.
Regulators moved from investigation to decision. In a single month the EU Commission fined Google €890M under the Digital Markets Act, issued preliminary DSA findings against Meta (addictive design of Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok (minors' account safety), and accepted X's compliance plan — while Korea's PIPC fined TikTok ₩10.3B (~$7M) over data collected for targeted advertising. Child safety and data-for-advertising were the recurring grounds. Layer 3 — Regulator early signals: EU Commission, CMA, Korean PIPC, Texas AG, FTC (public filings & notices)
Platforms tightened minors and health advertising. Of 14 substantive policy changes, Google drove ten — continued gambling-certification churn (Ireland, Peru) and Merchant Center expansion — but the substantive moves were child safety (Google Play barring anonymous- and random-chat apps from targeting children) and Meta's body-positive overhaul of health ads, newly prohibiting negative-self-perception claims. Layer 2 — AuditSocials policy scanner: official platform policy pages (Google, Meta, YouTube, X)
Enforcement volume fell — but violence rose. Total DSA-reported enforcement eased 9% to 103.6M decisions, with Pinterest (−22%), YouTube (−17%) and Instagram (−11%) down and TikTok (−7%) and Facebook (−3%) softer. Yet violence actions jumped 85% to 15.7M and cyber-violence 49%. 94.9% of decisions were automated. Layer 1 — EU DSA Transparency Database, CC BY 4.0
Platform Enforcement Volume · Layer 1
How much each platform moderated in July 2026, from the EU DSA Transparency Database.
By Platform
Total content-moderation decisions each platform reported to the EU DSA Transparency Database — July volume versus June, with the month-over-month change.
| Platform | June | July | MoM |
|---|---|---|---|
 TikTok | 46,039,232 | 43,061,384 | -6.5% |
 Facebook | 30,335,226 | 29,454,716 | -2.9% |
 Pinterest | 22,231,244 | 17,336,655 | -22% |
| Instagram | 9,280,973 | 8,253,851 | -11.1% |
 YouTube | 5,529,634 | 4,582,544 | -17.1% |
 Snapchat | 460,291 | 506,172 | +10% |
 X | 217,356 | 379,888 | +74.8% |
 LinkedIn | 35,207 | 31,890 | -9.4% |
Biggest Category Movers
The harm categories where enforcement grew the most, month over month.
| Category | June | July | MoM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence | 8,485,356 | 15,674,836 | +84.7% |
| Cyber Violence | 619,897 | 921,942 | +48.7% |
| Risk for Public Security | 164,259 | 209,114 | +27.3% |
| Civic Discourse & Elections | 1,480,308 | 1,737,141 | +17.3% |
| Protection of Minors | 659,558 | 757,652 | +14.9% |
By Action Type
What platforms did — how July's decisions split across removals, account bans and demotions.
By Content Type
What kind of content was actioned — share of decisions by media format.
Policy Changes · Layer 2
All 14 substantive policy changes detected on official platform pages this period, shown in full. Google drove ten of fourteen changes — continued gambling-certification churn (Ireland's GRAI, Peru's MIMP, new certificate rules) and Merchant Center expansion — but the substantive shifts were child safety and health: Google Play barred anonymous- and random-chat apps from targeting children, and Meta rebuilt its health-and-wellness ad rules around a body-positive standard that prohibits negative-self-perception claims.
XX: Targeting of Sensitive Categories Update
The advertising policy has undergone terminology changes, replacing 'Employment' with 'Credit' and 'Inappropriate content Policy' with 'Unacceptable Content'. These updates may affect how advertisers categorize their content and compliance with the platform's advertising standards.
YouTubeYouTube: Ad Guideline Updates Update
YouTube is updating its Violent Content guidelines to clarify the monetization status of depictions of death in educational, documentary, or news reporting content. This change aims to provide clearer guidance for advertisers regarding what content may be eligible for monetization.
MetaMeta: Restricted: Health & Wellness Update
The advertising policy has been updated to restrict content related to health and weight loss, emphasizing a body-positive approach. New prohibitions include negative self-perception claims and specific health conditions, while allowing for weight gain products under certain conditions.
MetaMeta: Advertising Standards Update
The advertising policy has been updated to include broader categories such as 'Health' and 'Wellbeing', while removing specific references to 'Weight Loss' and 'Cosmetic Products and Procedures'. Additionally, the policy now prohibits certain claims that may generate negative self-perception, impacting how advertisers can promote health-related products.
Google AdsGoogle Ads: Gambling Ads Update
The policy now includes new online gambling certificates while removing previous references to games and certain certification requirements. Advertisers must ensure compliance with the updated certification criteria, particularly regarding domain ownership.
Google PlayGoogle Play: Policy Deadlines Update
Google is expanding its policies regarding age-restricted content, child safety standards, and Families Policy Requirements to include anonymous chat and random chat apps. This change prohibits developers of such apps from targeting children and imposes stricter compliance obligations for account verification and app registration.
Google PlayGoogle Play: Policy Center Update
New policies have been added regarding age-restricted content and requirements for Google Play Families. These changes may impact how advertisers approach content targeting and compliance for family-oriented applications.
Google MerchantGoogle Merchant: Merchant Center Changelog Update
Google will consolidate the Shopping ads and free listing policies into a single set of Shopping policies in September 2026. This update aims to improve organization and clarity for merchants, with no additional restrictions on product listings as a direct result of this change.
Google AdsGoogle Ads: Gambling Ads Update
The advertising policy now includes a new certificate requirement under the Gambling and games policy. The previous requirement for new online gambling certificates has been removed, indicating a shift in compliance obligations for advertisers in this sector.
Google MerchantGoogle Merchant: Merchant Center Changelog Update
Google is expanding the eligible country coverage for Shopping ads and free listings to include 14 new international markets. This change allows merchants to target audiences in these countries, provided they comply with local regulations and Google's requirements.
Google AdsGoogle Ads: Gambling Ads Update
The advertising policy now includes specific requirements for lotteries, mandating that they provide a favorable technical opinion from the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP). This change impacts how lotteries can advertise, ensuring compliance with local regulations.
Google MerchantGoogle Merchant: Merchant Center Changelog Update
Google Merchant Center will expand its Checkout links feature to several new countries starting July 1, 2026. Merchants in Indonesia, France, Mexico, Argentina, Israel, Poland, and Australia will be able to enable this feature, allowing shoppers to go directly to their checkout pages from product listings.
Google AdsGoogle Ads: Gambling Ads Update
The advertising policy has been updated to specify that advertisers must be licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) instead of being registered as a bookmaker with the Revenue Commissioners. This change clarifies the licensing authority required for compliance in advertising gambling services in Ireland.
Google MerchantGoogle Merchant: Merchant Center Changelog Update
Starting in June 2026, vehicle ads will be available to all vehicle advertisers in Japan. This new ad format allows auto advertisers to showcase their inventory to potential customers on Google.com, enhancing visibility and engagement for vehicle-related promotions.
Regulator Early Signals · Layer 3
8 published signals. EU enforcement moved from investigation to decision. The Commission fined Google €890M under the DMA and issued preliminary DSA findings against Meta (addictive design of Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok (minors' account safety), while accepting X's compliance plan; Korea's PIPC separately fined TikTok over data collected for targeted advertising. Child safety and data-for-advertising were the recurring grounds.
Platform-specific actions
| Date | Regulator | Platform | Event | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-28 | CMA | Google | Closed its consultation on a proposed steering conduct requirement for Google's mobile platform, following Google's strategic market status designation. | — |
| 2026-07-24 | EU Commission | TikTok | Preliminary DSA finding that the default settings of minors' accounts do not meet the required safety standards. | — |
| 2026-07-23 | EU Commission | Google | Fined €890M under the Digital Markets Act — €460M for self-preferencing in Search and €430M for anti-steering restrictions on Google Play. First fine under the DMA. | — |
| 2026-07-23 | Korean PIPC | TikTok | Fined ₩10.3 billion (~$7M) for collecting behavioural data from about 9.45M South Korean users for targeted advertising without valid consent, and for cross-border data-transfer disclosure failures. | — |
| 2026-07-16 | EU Commission | X | Action plan on advertising transparency and researcher data access accepted for DSA compliance. | — |
| 2026-07-14 | Texas AG | LinkedIn | Issued a Civil Investigative Demand over allegedly fake and misleading 'ghost job' listings shown to paying Premium subscribers. | — |
| 2026-07-10 | EU Commission | Meta | Preliminary DSA breach finding over the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook (infinite scroll, autoplay, personalised recommender system). | — |
Directional regulatory trend
| Date | Regulator | Event | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-30 | FTC | Sued telehealth company Hims & Hers (joined by California and Utah) for sharing sensitive health data with advertising platforms including Meta and Snap, and for deceptive subscription billing. | — |
Data Quality & Methodology
- • Enforcement is applied overwhelmingly EU-wide: nearly all EU member states show near-identical volumes because most decisions carry EU-wide territorial scope. We therefore do not publish a per-country ranking.
- • Category figures exclude platforms' own terms-of-service “other” bucket; only standard DSA categories are reported.
- • Published on 2 August 2026, covering all 31 days of July. One partial day remained at the DSA source at publication — YouTube's 31 July submission was incomplete (a small fraction of a typical day, under 0.1% of the monthly total) and will settle in a later pull. June comparatives are carried from the June Index pull, so month-over-month change is computed on a consistent basis.
- • Layers 2 and 3 are AuditSocials-detected (policy scanner reading official platform pages; public regulator filings) — not official aggregates. Each item is independently verifiable via its source.
- • The FTC action targets a telehealth company (Hims & Hers), not a platform; Meta and Snap are named only as recipients of shared data. We therefore treat it as a directional trend, never attributed to a named platform as enforcement.
- • Policy-change dates are detection / log dates, which can differ from a policy's true effective date.
Source: EU DSA Transparency Database, CC BY 4.0 · transparency.dsa.ec.europa.eu
AuditSocials is an independent platform policy intelligence service and is NOT affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with Meta Platforms, Inc., ByteDance Ltd. (TikTok), Google LLC, LinkedIn Corporation, X Corp., Snap Inc., Pinterest, Inc., or any of their subsidiaries. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Information provided on this website does not constitute legal advice. A "Safe" or "Low Risk" assessment does not guarantee content approval by any platform or regulatory body. Always consult qualified legal counsel for material compliance decisions.