EU accuses Meta of allowing children under 13 on platforms

The European Union's executive arm on Wednesday accused Meta of failing to protect young children from the harms of social media.

The European Commission said Meta, the company behind several social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, breached its own rules of only allowing children above 13 years of age on their platforms.

"Terms and conditions should not be mere written statements, but rather the basis for concrete action to protect users, including children," said EU digital tsar Henna Virkkunen.

Meta will be given the chance to defend itself since the EU findings are preliminary. If confirmed, Meta will likely face hefty fines.

What the European Commission said about Meta breaching its own rules

The European Commission said in a statement that its investigation revealed that Meta's own rules about allowing children above 13 were not sufficiently enforced or regulated.

When creating an account, minors below 13 can enter a false birth date and there were no effective controls to check whether that was correct.

"Meta's tool for reporting minors under 13 on the platform is difficult to use and not effective, requiring up to seven clicks just to access the reporting form, which is not automatically pre-filled with the user's information," the statement added.

EU stays on the fight to curb online harms to children

The European Union (EU) has a law, called the Digital Services Act (DSA), that helps it tackle the spread of illegal content on social media platforms and search engines and online marketplaces.

That means the EU also has the power to impose hefty fines, as it has, on platforms and search engines that aren't keeping with the rules of its digital playbook.

The European Commission said on Wednesday that Meta broke the rules of the Digital Services Act.  

EU announces new age verification app

Europe has more generally leaned toward regulating social platforms using the DSA rather than banning children from accessing their social media accounts.

The EU earlier this month,for example, announced a new age verification app that is set to be rolled out soon. The app is meant to make sure that users verify their age before accessing certain platforms without having to share all their personal information with the sites they're trying to access.

Countries are considering social media bans for under-16s. What about Europe?

Australia became the first country in the world to implement a social media ban for under-16s and others like the UK, France and Denmark have been considering similar moves.

Germany has shown support for raising the minimum age for platforms like Instagram and TikTok so children spend less time on their phones.

Edited by: Alex Berry