The European Commission has charged Meta Platforms with breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) for failing to adequately prevent children under 13 from accessing Facebook and Instagram. The preliminary findings, issued on Wednesday, follow a two-year investigation and accuse Meta of inadequate measures to enforce age restrictions and remove underage users. The EU claims that 10-12% of children under 13 in Europe use the platforms, despite Meta's stated minimum age requirement of 13.
Meta disputes the findings, stating it has measures in place to detect and remove underage accounts. The company argues that age verification is an industry-wide challenge and plans to share additional measures next week. The Commission has given Meta the opportunity to respond before issuing a final decision, with potential fines reaching up to 6% of Meta's global annual turnover.
The EU's tech enforcer, Henna Virkkunen, emphasized that terms and conditions must translate into concrete actions to protect users, including children. The Commission also criticized Meta's risk assessment methodology, calling for improvements to prevent, detect, and remove minors from the platforms.