Brussels continues to monitor major tech companies to ensure compliance with EU rules. In this case, Brussels has opened proceedings against Meta, owner of Instagram and Facebook, considering that both platforms stimulate addictive behavior in children and promote users to view more extreme content.
This is the second procedure that the Commission has initiated against Meta in less than a month. The first, at the end of April, focused on tools to combat misinformation on the eve of European elections. In this case, the EU executive has expressed concern because the algorithms used by these two social networks encourage children to develop addictive behaviors on the platforms. Additionally, these algorithms direct them towards increasingly extreme videos, a concept known as the rabbit hole effect. Moreover, Brussels is concerned about the systems used to verify users’ ages.
“We are concerned that Facebook and Instagram may encourage addictive behaviors and that Meta’s methods of age verification in its services are not adequate,” said European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager.
The proceedings opened by the European Commission refer to Meta’s non-compliance with Digital Services regulations on various fronts, facing fines of up to 6% of its annual global revenue. On one hand, it deems that the tech giant does not comply with EU regulations regarding the mitigation of risks resulting from the design of Facebook and Instagram features.
In this regard, Brussels warns that the design of both platforms takes advantage of minors’ weakness and inexperience, leading to addictive behavior. It adds that Meta’s risk analysis does not consider the risks that such effects could have on the physical and mental health of underage users, nor does it respect their rights.
Furthermore, the European Commission believes that the tech giant does not comply with EU regulations to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content, highlighting Meta’s age verification system as a focal point of the investigation, which it deems ineffective.
Finally, the EU executive considers that the US company has not implemented adequate measures to ensure a high level of privacy and security for minors. In particular, it refers to the default privacy settings for minors as part of its recommendation systems’ design and operation.
If after the proceedings, Brussels finds that Meta has committed such breaches, they would constitute violations of Articles 28, 34, and 35 of the Digital Services Directive. The Commission will now conduct an in-depth investigation on a priority basis and continue to gather evidence. Additionally, it may accept the commitments that Meta makes to rectify these deficiencies.
At the end of April, the European Commission opened another investigation against Meta on suspicions of not implementing necessary measures to prevent disinformation campaigns on both social networks. A situation that has been exploited by “Russian interference campaigns,” according to EU sources.
Specifically, the EU executive believes that the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg does not comply with policies to prevent deceptive advertising and disinformation campaigns on the platform. The case concerns the lack of a tool for real-time monitoring of citizens’ discourse and elections leading up to the June poll, and also pertains to the removal of the real-time public information tool CrowdTangle without providing a replacement.
