{"id":463285,"date":"2026-08-27T16:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/08\/27\/minori-online-ue-dopo-accordo-tra-meta-e-stati-uniti-continua-dialogo-e-lavoro-con-lazienda\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T16:50:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:50:48","slug":"children-online-eu-following-the-agreement-between-meta-and-the-us-dialogue-and-collaboration-with-the-company-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/08\/27\/children-online-eu-following-the-agreement-between-meta-and-the-us-dialogue-and-collaboration-with-the-company-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Children online, EU: \u201cFollowing the agreement between Meta and the US, dialogue and collaboration with the company continue”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Will the European Commission introduce measures to protect children online, similar to those the United States adopted yesterday in its agreement with Meta? \u201cI can only confirm that we have had discussions with the company.\u201d This is \u201can ongoing dialogue we are pursuing to provide equally effective protection for our children here in the European Union.<\/strong>\u201d The EU executive\u2019s spokesperson, Thomas Reigner<\/strong>, stated<\/a> this today (27 August) regarding the case in which the Californian group was accused of deliberately designing its social media platforms to be addictive for teenagers. Yesterday, Meta reached a settlement<\/a> with 48 US states to pay up to $18 billion (\u20ac15.45 billion) in compensation and implement changes to restrict access by minors. <\/p>\n

During the daily press briefing, Reigner reiterated that, just like the United States, the Berlaymont building is constantly working on this issue. The main outcome was the adoption of the Digital Services Act<\/a> (DSA) in 2022, the European Union regulation establishing rules on safety, transparency, and accountability for online services and platforms. The spokesperson also pointed out that last July, the Berlaymont launched \u201can investigation into Meta regarding the same allegations\u201d that had arisen across the Atlantic, concluding that the design of Facebook and Instagram, being addictive<\/b>,<\/span> <\/b><\/a>does indeed breach the DSA. <\/p>\n

Reigner made it clear that the issue is not about determining \u201cwho will impose the heaviest fine,\u201d but about \u201ceffectively protecting our children online,<\/strong>\u201d which he described as the essence of the \u201cwork currently underway.\u201d In outlining the future course of the ongoing investigations, Reigner emphasised that it is up to the American giant \u201cto make commitments and offer guarantees here in the European Union to protect our children\u201d from such practices. In particular, the Commission expects the company to ensure \u201cappropriate management of screen time\u201d and \u201cadequate parental controls on these platforms.\u201d <\/p>\n

When it was pointed out that, under the US agreement, Meta’s commitments are temporary, the spokesperson said companies that \u201cmake commitments in Europe\u201d must honour them \u201cfor the foreseeable future.\u201d Therefore, the platform must now \u201cassess the risks that its systems and designs\u2014which are addictive\u2014could pose within the EU.\u201d From the Commission\u2019s perspective, this means \u201cchanging a company\u2019s behaviour here in Europe\u201d and deciding \u201cwhich commitments we can accept to resolve a case in accordance with our legislation,\u201d he concluded. So \u201cthe ball is in Meta\u2019s court.\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Within the EU, some are urging the Berlaymont to adopt a more assertive stance towards the tech giant. On his social media channels, the Polish Minister for Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski<\/strong>, stated<\/a>: \u201cDigital platforms must take full responsibility for their actions, which is why I have called for a fine of one billion z\u0142oty (the Polish currency) to be imposed on Meta.\u201d The minister went on to clarify that he had \u201csent a formal request to the European Commission to fine the platform \u20ac250 million,<\/strong>\u201d after analysing \u201cthe materials, including those received from Meta, as well as subsequent media reports on the lack of control over published content.\u201d With \u201cmore than enough evidence,\u201d he now expects the European Commission to \u201cconduct the proceedings swiftly and impose the fine.\u201d This \u201cWild West situation on the platform must end,<\/strong>\u201d he retorted. <\/p>\n

Similar calls have also come from Italy. The MEPs (S&D) from the Democratic Party, Sandro Ruotolo<\/strong> and Nicola Zingaretti<\/strong>, stated in a press release today that \u201cthe developments in the United States call for a response in Europe as well.\u201d Since May 2024, \u201cthe European Commission has been conducting proceedings against Meta specifically regarding the protection of minors.\u201d For this reason, they have asked the Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen<\/strong>, \u201cwhat stage the investigations have reached, after more than two years, and what findings have emerged so far.\u201d Furthermore, they asked whether measures similar to those agreed in the United States \u201ccould be required of platforms under the obligations already set out in the DSA, or whether further European legislative initiatives are necessary.<\/strong>\u201d In reiterating that \u201cthe protection of children cannot be subordinated to the economic interests of the platforms,\u201d the two emphasised: \u201cEurope must ensure that the safety and wellbeing of young people take precedence over the profits of the major digital platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regarding the agreement signed in the US aimed at restricting children\u2019s access to the internet, a spokesperson for the European Commission reiterated the EU\u2019s commitment to protecting minors and the \u201congoing dialogue\u201d with the Californian tech giant. Here in Europe, however, some are calling for sanctions to be imposed on these platforms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":463238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25710],"tags":[25871,26737,27427,26940,26087,27893,27894,27368,34798,26142,30953,31338,25952,28724,26326,35498],"class_list":["post-463285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-net-tech-en","tag-protection-minors-en","tag-party-democratic-en","tag-law-on-digital-services-en","tag-dsa-en","tag-facebook-en-2","tag-instagram-en","tag-meta-en","tag-minori-online","tag-minori-en","tag-nicola-zingaretti-en","tag-tutela-dei-minori-online-en","tag-poland-and","tag-sandro-ruotolo-en","tag-states-united-en","tag-zuckenberg"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463286,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463285\/revisions\/463286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}