EU says Meta is breaking the law by failing to keep children off Facebook and Instagram

[midian182]

What just happened? Meta has been told by the European Commission that Facebook and Instagram are breaching the Digital Services Act by failing to keep children under 13 off the platforms. The findings are preliminary, so this isn't the point where Mark Zuckerberg starts getting ready to hand over more money, but the company could ultimately face a fine of up to 6% of its global annual revenue if the EU decides the violations have been confirmed.

The Commission says Meta's own terms set 13 as the minimum age for Facebook and Instagram, but the systems in place to enforce that rule are not effective enough. Regulators say underage users can still get in by entering a false birth date, while existing accounts belonging to children are not being identified and removed quickly enough.

There's also criticism of the reporting tools for flagging underage accounts. According to the Commission, the mechanisms are not sufficiently easy to use or effective, which is a problem when the whole point is to stop kids who should not be there from being exposed to cyberbullying, grooming, addictive design, and inappropriate content.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said Instagram and Facebook are doing "very little" to prevent children below 13 from accessing the services. She added that terms and conditions cannot simply be written statements; under the DSA, they have to translate into concrete action.

Meta, unsurprisingly, disagrees. The company says it already uses measures to detect and remove under-13 accounts, and argues that determining someone's age online is an industry-wide problem requiring an industry-wide solution. It also says more measures will be announced soon.

The case comes amid a much wider global push to clamp down on children's access to social media. Australia's under-16 social media ban is mostly failing, with a study finding many children still able to access restricted platforms.

Meta previously said it had closed almost 550,000 Australian Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts under the Australian law, while still arguing that blanket bans can make things worse.

Meta is not exactly renowned for protecting younger users. The company went to trial in New Mexico over claims it knowingly enabled predators on Facebook and Instagram to exploit young users. It was ultimately found liable for exposing children to harm.

The EU's decision is not final, and Meta will now have the chance to respond. But it seems regulators are done accepting "we have a minimum age" as proof that a platform is actually keeping children out.

The US recently warned the EU about overregulation and said further fines against American tech giants would have consequences. With reported global revenue of $201 billion in 2025, Meta could face a fine of up to $12 billion in this case.

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EU says Meta is breaking the law by failing to keep children off Facebook and Instagram

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Isn’t this how it was always done? If you disagree it should be done this way, pass a law. Don’t fine an entity just because you identified them as someone you don’t like (or a gatekeeper as the European Commission calls them).

Facebook can only do so much in keeping children off the platform. The rest of the responsibility belongs to parents and teachers. And I’m sure the European Commission isn’t going after parents or schools who neglect to stop their children from using Facebook lol.

 

[winjer]

Of course Meta is not going to comply with the law, when fines are significantly lower than the profits the company makes from not complying.
And of course Meta doesn't care about protecting children, not as much as they care about protecting profits and shareholder value.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The claims are all nebulous. They’re “not removing accounts fast enough” is based on what? “The tools are confusing” to whom? If the law allows just a birth date, then how is meta in the wrong for accepting information that is put in falsely? How should they know, when the account is created, that somebody lied?

Poor judgement like this is why companies don’t take the EU seriously.

 

[pnntmp]

On the social media apps side, this can only be solved via real authentication - with ID cards, face scan etc. This will probably violate some other law, privacy related or whatever.

There's a much easier solution though - whenever a social media app is found on a child phone, the phone is destroyed. The person who pays for the mobile service is fined the average salary for the country. With every next violation, the amount doubles.

 

[sreams]

Of course Meta is not going to comply with the law, when fines are significantly lower than the profits the company makes from not complying.

And that's exactly how the EU wants it. They know Facebook will just pay the fine. That's the whole point. It was never about "the children".

 

[GABulldog]

This is not about the kids, this is about the money. Kids will always find a way to get around the rules, it's the way it is.

 

[Strontium]

EU says "gimme money".

 

[Endymio]

Of course Meta is not going to comply with the law, when fines are significantly lower than the profits the company makes from not complying.
And of course Meta doesn't care about protecting children, not as much as they care about protecting profits and shareholder value.

Where does this come from? Did you even read the story? The basic complaint is that the tools Meta has to report underage accounts are "insufficiently effective and easy to use". Yet I don't see the EU providing a better solution. Do you?

The only truly effective solution here is for the EU to mandate government-issued IDs for everyone, children included, and require them for social media access. Do you want that? When even that doesn't stop a teenager from using a non-European VPN. Essentially, the EU is trying to pass a law that says that the sun must rise in the west not the east ... and then fining companies who fail to make that happen.

 

[onebignerd]

Completely absurd expecting Meta to take responsibility, Zuckerberg has no clue!!

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

The EU and other Countries have found ways to increase their budget by creating laws and fining Big techs since Big techs are the rich guys. And with Russia in EU's backyard, they're going to need money. Strange how the EU passed their DMA Laws in 2022 the same year Russia invaded Ukraine. Coincidence or panic for money.

 

[Puiu]

Isn’t this how it was always done? If you disagree it should be done this way, pass a law. Don’t fine an entity just because you identified them as someone you don’t like (or a gatekeeper as the European Commission calls them).

Facebook can only do so much in keeping children off the platform. The rest of the responsibility belongs to parents and teachers. And I’m sure the European Commission isn’t going after parents or schools who neglect to stop their children from using Facebook lol.

"Facebook can only do so much in keeping children off the platform. " - they aren't doing even the bare minimum. the fine is justified.

let's stop making excuse for companies that make money from refusing to comply with the law. meta decided that a fine is just another expense that they'll pay to keep children on the platform. without kids and the targeted ads towards kids, facebook will slowly die in obscurity alongside old ppl.

 

[Puiu]

Where does this come from? Did you even read the story? The basic complaint is that the tools Meta has to report underage accounts are "insufficiently effective and easy to use". Yet I don't see the EU providing a better solution. Do you?

The only truly effective solution here is for the EU to mandate government-issued IDs for everyone, children included, and require them for social media access. Do you want that? When even that doesn't stop a teenager from using a non-European VPN. Essentially, the EU is trying to pass a law that says that the sun must rise in the west not the east ... and then fining companies who fail to make that happen.

The EU has provided a simpler solution.
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/faqs/eu-age-verification-solution

Making excuses for a company known to target children with both their services and ads... it's just criminal. Is supporting rich criminals all you can do here?

 

[Endymio]

The EU has provided a simpler solution.
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/faqs/eu-age-verification-solution

incorrect. That "solution" is not yet available. It's slated to come online end of this year. I'll also note that countless European platforms are doing exactly what Meta is with age verification ... yet the EU hasn't investigated them.

 

[Puiu]

incorrect. That "solution" is not yet available. It's slated to come online end of this year. I'll also note that countless European platforms are doing exactly what Meta is with age verification ... yet the EU hasn't investigated them.

I was replying on what the EU is doing and that it's not "nothing" as you were implying.

FYI: "The Commission made available a blueprint for an age verification solution on 14 July 2025. It became feature ready age verification solution on 15 April 2026 and can now be customised by Member States and market players." --> meta had access to this.

FYI2: the meta part I've addressed. it's still a fine they 100% deserved. I can login now and I can see ads target towards children and obvious kid accounts.

and forget about account creation, have you every tried to report a child account? the reporting process is made to make people give up, it's complete BS (reminds me of amazon and how they made canceling a sub or removing a credit card next to impossible for a normal person). and all of the accounts I've reported in the past year are still up.

Henna Virkkunen's statement put it nicely: "terms and conditions should not be mere written statements"

 

[Endymio]

the meta part I've addressed. it's still a fine they 100% deserved. I can login now and I can see ads target towards children and obvious kid accounts.

And yet tens of thousands of European firms -- and every European social media platform -- has ads targeting children, and children using those platforms. Why is the EU not investigating them? And if a solution already exists to keeping children from skirting age verification systems, why is the EU spending so much time and money to develop something they claim will actually work?

have you every tried to report a child account? the reporting process is made to make people give up

Why tell such obvious lies? You simply visit their reporting link, and entire the address of the account you wish to report. It takes literally five seconds.

Contact Forms

www.facebook.com

What the EU **should** be investigating is all the child trafficking going on in Eastern European hell-holes like Romania:

Child trafficking in Romania exposed in new Justice and Care study

The reality of child trafficking in Romania has been exposed in research from Justice and Care, presented at an event in Parliament.

justiceandcare.org