Brussels has judged Meta — the owner of Facebook and Instagram — to be in violation of its online censorship regulation, the second ruling of its kind since the law was introduced.
According to the European Commission, Meta violated the Digital Services Act by not gathering sufficient data on its users to determine their age, arguing the failure to gather such private information meant that children could access the platform.
Writing in a press release on April 29, the Commission claimed that the US tech giant was ignoring the “scientific evidence” regarding the impact social media can have on children by not doing more to verify a user’s age.
“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,” the release reads.
“The measures do not adequately prevent minors under the age of 13 from accessing their services nor promptly identify and remove them, if they already gained access.”
It went on to order Meta to “effectively counter and mitigate risks that minors under the age of 13 could experience on the platforms”, adding that the body would seek to financially harm the company if it failed to obey the edict.
Meta is also likely to face a large EU fine — valued at up to six per cent of the company’s global annual turnover — once the ruling is confirmed in the coming months.
The company has little recourse when it comes to avoiding the fine in the short term, as while it has the right to respond to the Commission’s criticisms before the verdict is made official, such counter-arguments will also be adjudicated by the Commission.
A similar attempt by X to challenge the legality of a €120 million fine last December failed to have any impact, with a private letter penned by the Commission and leaked by the US House Judiciary Committee justifying the ruling with little reference to X’s counterclaims.
The Commission’s edict against Meta follows its continued push to ban all those aged 16 and under from accessing social media.
Brussels leadership is coordinating closely with the Irish government on the matter, with both parties committing to rolling out digital ID systems aimed at reducing anonymity online.
It is also the latest evidence of increasing EU hostility to American multinational corporations, with the country’s tech sector facing particular ire in the European capital.
As of writing, X has been at the forefront of growing anti-Americanism in Brussels, with the platform — owned by tech polymath Elon Musk — being the first ever company fined by the EU under the DSA late last year.
Meta is also under increasing pressure, with founder Mark Zuckerberg being described as a man who is “consumed by commercial greed” who “did not care” about the deaths of children during a Dáil Committee meeting in January.
“We are simply dealing with a runaway train that is being run and driven by key people sitting in their lofty towers who are consumed by commercial greed and have zero moral responsibility,” Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan said in reference to Zuckerberg’s 2024 appearance at a US Senate committee hearing.