EU investigates Facebook owner Meta over child safety and mental health concerns
The European Commission has begun an investigation into the owner of Facebook and Instagram over concerns that the platforms are creating addictive behaviour among children and damaging mental health.
The EU executive said Meta may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark law passed by the bloc last summer that makes digital companies large and small liable for disinformation, shopping scams and child abuse.
“Today we open formal proceedings against Meta,” the EU commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, said in a statement. “We 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 on its platforms Facebook and Instagram.”
The commission’s investigation will explore potential addictive effects of the platforms, so-called rabbit hole effects, where an algorithm feeds young people negative content, such as on body image. It will also look at the effectiveness of Meta’ age verification tools and privacy for minors. “We are sparing no effort to protect our children,” Breton said.
Last month the EU opened formal proceedings against Meta under the DSA over its handling of political content amid concerns it was not doing enough to counter Russian disinformation before the EU elections in June.
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