EU Opens Child Safety Probe Against Meta

Facts

• The European Commission (EC) has announced the launch of a probe against Meta concerning whether social media platforms Facebook and Instagram lead to behavioral addictions and 'rabbit-hole effects' in children.¹
• The EU's executive body stated Thursday that Meta's platforms may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), a law passed by the bloc last summer.²
• The Commission is worried that algorithms recommending videos and posts might exploit children's vulnerabilities and inexperience, stimulating addictive behavior.³
• Though Meta filed a risk assessment report last September, the Commission is also concerned about 'its age-assurance and verification methods.'⁴
• The probe is the third launched by the EC against Meta under the DSA, while the bloc has also opened an investigation concerning addictive content on social media platform TikTok.⁵
• The legislation makes very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) liable to fines of up to 6% of their annual revenue if they're found to have violated content moderation standards.⁶

Sources: ¹European Commission (a), ²Guardian, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴reuters.com, ⁵TechCrunch and ⁶European Commission (b).

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by North Jersey Media Group. Meta has been long aware of the addictive and harmful consequences of its platforms on children. Unfortunately, the company has prioritized profit over safety and has chosen to do nothing about it. Meta's ability to so far avoid moral and legal accountability can't last forever.
• Narrative B, as provided by Meta. Meta has long been transparent about its policies, processes, and enforcement. The company is committed to complying with the rules of the DSA, and has updated its transparency measures and some user features in order to meet EU regulatory obligations. Holding a shared vision with the EC, Meta will continue to minimize the potential for online harm.
• Narrative C, as provided by Reason.com. The DSA is an egregious example of government overreach. While it's admirable that the EU is attempting to set rules that could provide some order to the internet, these powers are a pathway to infringe upon the free speech of Europeans, censor content on social media platforms, and further control the behavior of individuals.

Predictions