Facebook and Instagram, EU opens proceedings on children's social addiction
The European Commission will assess whether Meta violates the rules of the Digital Services Act
3' min read
3' min read
The EU Commission has opened a formal procedure to assess whether Meta, the holding company of Facebook and Instagram, may have violated the rules of the Digital Services Act (Dsa) with regard to the protection of minors. Brussels fears that Facebook's and Instagram's systems, including their algorithms, may stimulate behavioural addictions in children, as well as create so-called 'bunny effects'.
Furthermore, the Commission is also concerned about the insurance and age verification methods implemented by Meta. As social media platforms are designed to maximise user attention, algorithms are used to stimulate behavioural addictions and/or create the so-called 'rabbit hole effect' whereby users might be induced towards more extreme videos.
The EU decision is based on a preliminary analysis of the risk assessment report sent by Meta in September 2023, Meta's answers to the Commission's formal requests for information (on child protection and risk assessment methodology), publicly available reports as well as the Commission's analysis.
The Commission is also concerned about the insurance and age verification methods implemented by Meta. The current proceedings cover several areas. Firstly, Meta's compliance with EU obligations on the assessment and mitigation of risks caused by the design of Facebook and Instagram's online interfaces, which could exploit minors' weaknesses and inexperience and cause addictive behaviour, and/or reinforce the 'rabbit hole' effect.
This assessment is necessary to counter potential risks to the exercise of the fundamental right to the physical and mental well-being of minors and respect for their rights. Then Meta's compliance with EU requirements in relation to mitigation measures to prevent access by minors to inappropriate content, in particular age verification tools used, which may not be reasonable, proportionate and effective. And also compliance with obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, security and protection for minors, in particular with regard to default privacy settings for minors as part of the design and operation of their recommender systems.
