EU threatens fines as Meta fails to block children under 13 on Instagram, Facebook

Brussels – There appear to be no systems in place to prevent children under 13 from accessing Facebook and Instagram, and for this reason, Meta has come under scrutiny from the European Commission for a suspected breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU executive suspects that the policies put in place by the company that controls these well-known social networks are merely a facade: “Despite Meta’s own terms and conditions setting the minimum age to access Instagram and Facebook safely at 13, the measures put in place by the company to enforce these restrictions do not seem to be effective,” according to the Commission.

Specifically, the issue raised is the ease with which a “fake” account can be created by claiming to be over the minimum age required to use online services, without any effective verification systems in place. Furthermore, the page for reporting minors on the platform “is difficult to use and not effective,” the EU executive complains once again. It takes “up to seven clicks just to access the reporting form, which is not automatically pre-filled with the user’s information,” it adds.

In summary, “our preliminary findings show that Instagram and Facebook are doing very little to prevent children below this age from accessing their services,” explains Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. The DSA, she points out, “requires platforms to enforce their own rules: terms and conditions should not be mere written statements, but rather the basis for concrete action to protect users – including children.” Instead, she notes, evidence shows that “roughly 10-12% of children under 13 are accessing Instagram and/or Facebook.”

Hence, the explicit request that Meta “change” its risk assessment methodology, “strengthen” measures to prevent, identify, and remove children under 13 from its services, and “effectively counter and mitigate” the risks that minors might encounter on its platforms. Otherwise, any breach of the rules could result in fines of up to 6 per cent of its global turnover.

This is not the first time Meta has come under scrutiny from the European Commission for failing to comply with the Digital Services Act. In April 2024, irregularities were identified regarding political content on platforms, and in May 2024, the Commission had identified possible infringements again regarding the protection of minors on Facebook and Instagram, while in July of that year, the ‘pay or consent’ mechanism was called into question. Today’s decision (29 April) is therefore the latest chapter in the standoff between Brussels and the web giant.

English version by the Translation Service of Withub