The European Commission has preliminarily found Meta breached EU law by failing to adequately prevent under-13s from accessing Facebook and Instagram, intensifying scrutiny over child safety on its platforms.
The European Commission has found that Meta breached EU law by failing to prevent under-13s from accessing Instagram and Facebook, amid growing scrutiny over child safety online. The commission said its preliminary investigation concluded Meta violated the Digital Services Act because the platforms’ minimum age requirement of 13 is not adequately enforced, citing weak age verification measures and difficulties in reporting underage accounts.
“The Commission considers that Instagram and Facebook must change their risk assessment methodology, in order to evaluate which risks arise on Instagram and Facebook in the European Union, and how they manifest,” the commission said. Responding, a Meta spokesperson said, “We disagree with these preliminary findings. We’re clear that Instagram and Facebook are intended for people aged 13 and older and we have measures in place to detect and remove accounts from anyone under that age. We continue to invest in technologies to find and remove underage users and will have more to share next week about additional measures rolling out soon. Understanding age is an industry-wide challenge, which requires an industry-wide solution, and we will continue to engage constructively with the European Commission on this important issue.”
Meta can now review the preliminary findings and respond in writing, with the commission able to impose fines of up to six per cent of the company’s annual global turnover if the findings are upheld. The development follows two recent U.S. court rulings involving Meta and comes as countries including Australia, United Kingdom, Spain and France consider or pursue tighter restrictions on minors’ access to social media platforms.