Overview
- The European Commission, which issued a provisional finding Wednesday, said Meta fails to keep under‑13s off its platforms in breach of the Digital Services Act, an EU law that requires big platforms to reduce risks to users.
- Officials said children can open accounts by typing a false birthdate and cited estimates that about 10–12% of under‑13s in the EU use Instagram or Facebook, pointing to weak detection and slow removal of flagged accounts.
- If violations are confirmed after Meta’s response, the Commission can levy fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue and impose daily penalties until effective age checks and removals are in place.
- Meta disputed the assessment, said it already removes under‑age accounts, and announced new measures due next week while calling age verification an industry‑wide challenge that needs a common solution.
- Brussels is promoting an EU age‑verification app that reads ID documents to prove age without sharing identity data, yet security researchers said they hacked the prototype within minutes, as member states weigh national bans and lessons from Australia’s under‑16 ban, where a recent survey found widespread circumvention and shifts to gaming and messaging.