Instagram surpasses Facebook in EU with 10x faster growth

As part of its Digital Services Act (DSA) reporting obligations, Meta has released its latest performance data for Facebook and Instagram in the European Union. This data provides insights into user numbers and content moderation efforts.

Between January and June 2025, Facebook had 263.6 million monthly active users (MAU) in the EU, while Instagram had 281.8 million MAU. Instagram has had more European users than Facebook for in same time period.

The platform noted that an MAU is a registered and logged-in account on either app that has been accessed via the website or a mobile device within the last 30 days.

Since March 2024, Facebook's EU audience has grown by 0.65%, whereas Instagram's has increased by 6.17%. In this same period, Facebook experienced a decrease in user numbers in the Netherlands, Greece and Germany.

It is not clear if Facebook is losing its relevance because its parent company no longer publishes Facebook-specific user counts in its quarterly reports. Instead, it reports on a ‘Family of Apps’ metric, which includes all users across Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp and Messenger.

The company also reported that its human content moderation team remains at 40,000 employees, a number that has not changed since the company began its DSA reporting in 2023.

The data shows a reduction in spam removals on both Facebook and Instagram. Removals related to bullying and harassment on the former app increased significantly during the reporting period. Additionally, there was a 20% reduction in removals for hate speech; however, the company has noted changes in its criteria for this category, which may impact direct comparisons.