The European Union Commission has begun investigating the activities of two Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram, expressing worries about children’s safety on the sites.
In a statement released on Thursday, the commission expressed concern that Facebook and Instagram’s systems, including their algorithms, may promote behavioral addictions in children and create so-called ‘rabbit-hole effects.’
Additionally, the commission expressed worry about Meta’s age assurance and verification processes. The sites are being probed under the EU’s Digital Service Act, which all social media platforms operating in the bloc must follow.
The commission stated that the formal investigation was prompted by its preliminary study of Meta’s risk assessment report, provided in September 2023, and Meta’s responses to the commission’s formal demands for information on minor protection and risk assessment methodology.
As a matter of priority, the commission will gather evidence through an in-depth investigation by submitting additional requests for information, conducting interviews, or inspecting.
Facebook and Instagram were designated as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the EU’s Digital Services Act on April 25, 2023, due to their combined monthly active user base of more than 45 million in the EU.
As VLOPs, Facebook and Instagram were required to begin complying with a series of obligations outlined in the DSA four months after their designation or by the end of August 2023.
Since February 17, the Digital Services Act has applied to all online intermediaries in the EU. On April 30, 2024, the commission started legal proceedings against Meta regarding both Facebook and Instagram, misleading advertising, political content, notice and action mechanisms, and data access for researchers, as well as the lack of an effective third-party real-time civic debate and election monitoring tool before the European Parliament elections.
In February of this year, the commission initiated legal proceedings to determine whether TikTok violated DSA in areas such as minor protection.
