© Dima Solomin – Unsplash
After an initial warning in November on the subject, the EU is taking action. The European Commission announced this Thursday, May 17, the opening of a second investigation into Facebook and Instagram as part of the DSA launched this year. This time, Mark Zuckerberg's social networks are accused of developing addictive behaviors in children and of failing to comply with their age verification obligations.
Risks on Facebook and Instagram for children ?
In a press release published for the occasion, the European Commissioner for internal market, Thierry Breton, does not beat around the bush: “We are not convinced that Meta has done enough to mitigate health risks physical and mental health of young Europeans on its platforms”.
Of course, no one knows what these investigations will yield, which are also supposed to push Meta to take action. The Brussels Institution criticizes it in particular “the risks caused by the design of the interfaces of Facebook and Instagram, which can exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors and cause addictive behavior& ;#8221;.
Meta also clearly has an interest in showing his credentials. And for good reason, this new regulation on digital services exposes it to fines of up to 6% of its global annual turnover, which is already considerable. Worse, in the event of serious and repeated violations, the Commission could consider a ban on operating in Europe!
Challenged, Meta insisted on defending itself by ensuring that he “spent a decade building more than 50 tools and measures intended to protect”minors. The Tech giant also says it is “impatient to share the fruit of this work with the European Commission”.
A second investigation against Meta
Last March, the EU had already opened an investigation against Meta concerning its “& nbsp;payment or consent”. Internet users are therefore invited to checkout or agree to consent to the use of their personal data for targeted advertising purposes. The commission considers that this is not a real alternative if users refuse to give their consent.
Meta responded by explaining through a spokesperson: “Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model in many industries, and we designed Subscription for No Ads to meet several overlapping regulatory obligations, including the DMA”.
To go further, we invite you to reread this article which goes into more detail about these new European regulations and their implications.
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