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.