The European Commission is not idle. A few months after adoption DMA and DSAand a few weeks before tense elections, Brussels fired a new arrow in the direction of Facebook And Instagram.
Meta would notnot enough effort to comply with the DSA and reduce the mental and physical risks associated with using its platforms» said Thierry Breton onyoung Europeans» do not fall into addiction to social networks.
Towards a ban on Facebook and Instagram?
Allowed by the DSA recently adopted by Brussels, this initiative could cost Mark Zuckerberg’s firm dearly. In the event of manifest breaches of its obligations, Meta could be fined up to 6% of its global turnover. In the event of a repeat offense, it could even be outright banned from the old continent.
Brussels’ fear is that networks like Facebook and Instagram will create a “infernal spiral» which pushes young people to overinvest on the platform and to be potentially exposed to content dangerous to their health. “We will spare no effort to protect our children», explained Thierry Breton who said to himself “not convinced» of the good faith of the platforms on the subject.
Algorithms under pressure
Concretely, this means that the Commission will inspect Facebook’s algorithms to verify that they do not encourage addictive behavior, will examine the operation of age verification tools on the two platforms and will verify that minors benefit from the best features of privacy protection possible. Enough to give Meta a cold sweat, who has, in the past, shown a certain laxity on the subject.
For his part, Meta defended himself by explaining that he “spent a decade building more than 50 tools and measures intended to protect» minors. To prove its good faith, the company said to itself “looking forward to sharing the fruits of this work with the European Commission“. This is not the first time that Facebook and Instagram have been targeted by Brussels. Last March, it was Facebook’s paid subscription and its questionable compliance with the DMA that were singled out.
Source : Thierry Breton – X
11