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The European Commission accused Meta of “failing to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of minors under 13 years old accessing their services”
The European Commission has released its preliminary findings into whether Meta had breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), claiming the company had failed the adequately prevent under-13s from accessing its Instagram and Facebook platforms.
In a press release, the Commission said that Meta’s measures to prevent access by minors “do not seem to be effective”.
“Despite Meta’s own terms and conditions setting the minimum age to access Instagram and Facebook safely at 13, the measures put in place by the company to enforce these restrictions do not seem to be effective,” said the statement. “The measures do not adequately prevent minors under the age of 13 from accessing their services nor promptly identify and remove them, if they already gained access.”
It further stated that there are “no effective controls in place to check the correctness of the self-declared date of birth” and that Meta’s tools for reporting minors on the platform were “difficult to use and not effective”.
The first launched its investigation into company in 2024 following the implementation of the DSA, a broad legal framework covering how online platforms handle content and manage risks to customers online.
If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover.
Meta’s turnover in 2025 was roughly $201 billion, suggesting a fine could be in the region of $12.6 billion.
“Meta’s own general conditions indicate their services are not intended for minors under 13. Yet, our preliminary findings show that Instagram and Facebook are doing very little to prevent children below this age from accessing their services,” said Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. “The DSA requires platforms to enforce their own rules: terms and conditions should not be mere written statements, but rather the basis for concrete action to protect users – including children.”
In a statement to the New York Times, Meta said it disagreed with the findings, claiming its methods of preventing access by under-13s were effective. It nonetheless says that it is rolling out additional measures “soon”, adding that “understanding age is an industry-wide challenge”.
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