The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether Meta, the provider of Facebook and Instagram, may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to the protection of minors.
The action follows a separate probe into Meta’s alleged failure to properly monitor the distribution of political misinformation by “foreign actors” before June’s European elections.
The latest action means the executive of the European Union will examine three potential breaches of the DSA, first introduced in August last year. The legislation allows for fines up to 6 percent of worldwide annual turnover, which in Meta’s case would equate to around $8.5 billion.
Firstly, the Commission will investigate whether the social media giant has assessed and mitigated risks caused by the design of Facebook and Instagram’s online interfaces, “which may exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors and cause addictive behaviour, and/or reinforce the so-called ‘rabbit hole’ effect.”
Secondly, the Commission will examine whether Meta did enough to prevent access by minors to inappropriate content. In particular, it questions whether age-verification tools used by Meta have been reasonable, proportionate and effective.
Lastly, the Commission put Meta’s compliance with DSA obligations under the microscope by looking at whether it has taken “appropriate and proportionate measures” to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security for minors. In particular, it will examine whether default privacy settings for minors and recommendation systems comply with the law.
