Overview
- Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, which drew preliminary findings from the European Commission on Wednesday, are accused of breaching the Digital Services Act by not doing enough to keep under‑13s off their platforms.
- If the Commission confirms non‑compliance, Meta could face fines of up to 6% of its global annual revenue, along with possible periodic penalties to force changes.
- Regulators say children can bypass age gates by entering false birthdates at sign‑up because Meta lacks effective checks to verify self‑reported ages.
- The Commission found the under‑13 reporting flow hard to use, noting it can take up to seven clicks to reach the form, it is not pre‑filled with user details, and flagged accounts often remain active without proper follow‑up.
- Brussels called Meta’s risk assessment incomplete for downplaying evidence that about 10–12% of EU children under 13 use the services, while Meta rejected the findings, said it already removes underage accounts, and pledged new detection tools as it reviews the case file and prepares a written response; the Commission may consult the European Board for Digital Services and this action follows earlier preliminary findings against TikTok.