EU Targets Meta Over Child Safety Failures and DSA Violations

The European Commission has concluded a preliminary investigation finding that Meta breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) by failing to adequately enforce age restrictions on its primary platforms. The regulator determined that the minimum age requirement of 13 for Instagram and Facebook is not sufficiently upheld, allowing minors to access the services by simply inputting false birth dates. Beyond the initial sign-up process, the Commission highlighted systemic failures in the platform's reporting mechanisms. The tool used to report underage accounts was described as difficult to navigate, requiring up to seven clicks to access the necessary form. Furthermore, the investigation found that even when accounts are reported, Meta often fails to implement adequate follow-up measures to remove the minors from the platforms. If these preliminary findings are upheld in a final investigation, Meta could be subject to a severe financial penalty of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover. The Commission has called for Meta to overhaul its risk assessment methodology to better evaluate how these safety risks manifest within the European Union. Meta has disputed the findings, arguing that age verification is an industry-wide challenge and that it continues to invest in technologies to detect and remove underage users. This regulatory pressure follows recent U.S. court rulings that linked platform design to teenage addiction and alleged that the company misled users regarding child safety.