The European Commission (EC) recently ruled that Meta Platforms was in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the preliminary ruling claims the company failed to prevent children aged under 13-years from accessing Instagram and Facebook.
The EC stated an investigation commenced in 2024 found Meta Platforms failed to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of children using its services.
Meta Platforms now has the opportunity to respond to the EC’s ruling and take measures to remedy the breaches.
If the concerns are not addressed, the EC could hit the company with a fine of as much as 6 per cent of its annual global revenue.
Difficult and not effective
Despite Meta Platforms’ own terms and conditions setting the minimum age to access Instagram and Facebook at 13-years, the EC stated the company’s enforcement measures appear ineffective.
It also has not adequately put a process in place to identify or remove children if they gained access.
The EC found children aged less than 13-years can create an account using a false birth date with no effective controls in place to check if it is correct.
It claims Meta Platforms’ tools for reporting children on its sites is “difficult to use and not effective” and there is no proper follow-up process once a report is lodged, leaving the child able to continue using the company’s services.
As a result, the EC said children are being exposed to age-inappropriate experiences.
The EC pointed to large bodies of evidence across the European Union showing roughly 10 per cent to 12 per cent of children under 13-years old are accessing Instagram and Facebook.
It stated Instagram and Facebook must change their risk assessment methodology; strengthen measures to prevent, detect and remove children; and counter and mitigate risks of what content they could find on their platforms.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: DSA
