May 16, 2024
The EU on Thursday opened a formal investigation into Facebook and Instagram on suspicion the platforms owned by Meta are causing addictive behaviour in children.
The probe is under a mammoth law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) that forces the worldโs largest tech firms to do more to protect European users online and clamp down on illegal content.
It is the second investigation into Meta.
An earlier one was launched by the European Union last month over fears Facebook and Instagram are failing to counter disinformation.
โWe are not convinced that it has done enough to comply with the DSA obligations to mitigate the risks of negative effects to the physical and mental health of young Europeans,โ the EUโs internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, said.
โWe are sparing no effort to protect our children,โ he added.
A Meta spokesperson defended the companyโs efforts to protect young users.
โWe want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them,โ the spokesperson said.
โThis is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing details of our work with the European Commission”, he added.
โ โNo effort to protect childrenโ โ
In Thursdayโs announcement, the European Commission, the EUโs tech regulator, said it suspected the platformsโ systems โmay stimulate behavioural addictions in childrenโ.
Another issue the commission raised was the so-called โrabbit holeโ effect โ which occurs when users are fed related content based on an algorithm, in some cases leading to more extreme content.
The commission is also worried that Metaโs age-verification tools may not be effective.
The DSA has strict rules to protect children and ensure their privacy and security online, and the EU fears Meta might not be doing enough to meet these obligations.
The EU stressed in a statement that the โopening of formal proceedings does not prejudge its outcomeโ.
There is no deadline for the probeโs completion.
โ Raft of probes โ
The DSA sits within the EUโs powerful legal armoury to rein in Big Tech.
Facebook and Instagram are among 23 โvery largeโ online platforms that must comply with the DSA or risk fines that could reach as high as six percent of a platformโs global turnover, or even a ban for serious and repeated violations.
Other platforms caught up in DSA scrutiny include Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Brussels has launched a wave of investigations, showing online giants it means business.
In February, the commission began a probe into TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm Bytedance, on suspicion the hugely popular video-sharing app may not be doing enough to address negative impacts on young people.
The EU also forced TikTok to suspend its spinoff Lite appโs reward schemes in April after warning its โaddictiveโ nature could risk serious damage to usersโ mental health.
Other investigations have targeted Chinese online retailer AliExpress and social media platform X, which is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk and used to be called Twitter.
The DSAโs remit is wide and also forces digital shopping platform like AliExpress and Amazon to do more to counter the sale of fake and illegal goods online.