Meta told it's violating EU law by not doing enough to keep children off Facebook and Instagram

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The European Commission has found that Meta breached EU law by failing to prevent under-13s from accessing its platforms, as scrutiny of the tech giant’s handling of child safety intensifies.

The commission said Wednesday that its preliminary investigations concluded that Meta violated the EU’s Digital Services Act because the minimum age requirement of 13 for Instagram and Facebook is not adequately enforced.

When creating an account, minors can input a false birth date, with no controls in place to verify it, the Commission said.

Additionally, the tool for reporting a minor’s account is “difficult to use” and requires up to seven clicks to access the form, the commission said. Even when a minor’s account is reported, the commission found that there are often no adequate follow ups or measures to get them off the platform.