EU Commission finds Meta in preliminary breach over child safety

By Necva Tastan Sevinc

ISTANBUL (AA) - The European Commission said Wednesday it had preliminarily found Meta Platforms in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for failing to prevent children aged under 13 from accessing Instagram and Facebook.

In a statement, the commission said Meta had not taken sufficient measures to “diligently identify, assess, and mitigate” the risks linked to minors using its platforms, despite its own rules setting 13 as the minimum age.

The EU executive said existing safeguards were ineffective, noting that children could easily bypass age restrictions by entering false birth dates without proper verification.

It also criticized Meta’s reporting tools, saying they were “difficult to use” and failed to ensure follow-up when underage users were flagged.

The commission further said Meta’s risk assessment was “incomplete and arbitrary,” underestimating the scale of the issue despite evidence suggesting that around 10-12% of children under 13 in the EU access Instagram or Facebook.

The commission said Meta must revise its risk assessment methodology and strengthen measures to prevent, detect, and remove underage users, ensuring a “high level of privacy, safety and security” for minors.

Meta can now respond to the preliminary findings and propose remedies. If confirmed, the commission may issue a non-compliance decision and impose fines of up to 6% of the company’s global annual turnover.

The findings are part of an ongoing investigation launched in May 2024 and do not prejudge the final outcome.