The European Commission has preliminarily determined that Meta, the parent company of platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, is in violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA). According to the Commission, the company has failed to implement effective measures to prevent minors under the age of 13 from accessing its services.
The Brussels authority noted that while Meta’s terms of service establish a minimum age of 13, the steps taken to enforce this age restriction remain insufficient. The Commission pointed out that minors can easily bypass the controls by providing inaccurate dates of birth during account creation, as effective checks for proper age verification are currently lacking. Furthermore, the reporting process for underage users is described as both complex and ineffective; even when a minor is reported, the follow-up has often been inadequate, allowing the reported users to continue accessing the services.
Consequently, the Commission is demanding that Meta overhaul its risk assessment methodologies and significantly strengthen its measures for identifying and removing underage accounts. Should Meta fail to comply with these requirements, the Commission has the power to impose a substantial fine, which could reach up to six percent of the company’s annual global revenue.