The preliminary findings, made under the Digital Services Act, mandate that major tech companies enhance their efforts to combat illegal and harmful content on their platforms. These findings are the culmination of a two-year investigation by the European Commission.
Meta, which has expressed disagreement with these initial findings, is allowed to respond and implement changes before the Commission reaches a final decision. Violating the DSA could result in fines of up to 6% of a company’s global annual revenue.
This action by the EU is part of a wider concern about the effects of social media on children, businesses, and governments globally, leading to increased calls for Big Tech to take more proactive measures.
The EU tech authority stated that Meta has not adequately enforced its age limits for Facebook and Instagram, noting that existing measures to identify and remove users under 13 have proven insufficient.
It was reported that between 10% and 12% of children under 13 in Europe are active users of Facebook and Instagram. However, Meta disputes these statistics, claiming they derive from outdated user surveys conducted nearly a decade ago.
“Our preliminary findings indicate that Instagram and Facebook are making minimal efforts to keep children below this age from their platforms,” said EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen in a statement.
“Terms and conditions should serve not only as formal statements but as a foundation for tangible actions to safeguard users, particularly children,” she added.
Meta asserts that it has strategies in place to detect and eliminate accounts belonging to users under 13 and plans to introduce further precautions next week.
“Determining age presents a challenge across the industry that requires a collective solution, and we will maintain constructive dialogue with the European Commission on this critical matter,” stated a Meta spokesperson.
The Commission emphasized that both platforms must revise their risk assessment methods and enhance their efforts to prevent, identify, and remove minors from their services.
If regulators believe these platforms still fall short of their obligations, they reserve the right to impose fines, although this process could take several months.
