Europe investigates whether Instagram and Facebook are addictive to minors

Target is again in the crosshairs of the European Commission, in this case for a possible violation Digital Services Act (DSA). Regulators announced this Thursday that they were opening an investigation into Mark Zuckerberg’s firm to determine whether it failed to meet its obligations to protect minors who use drugs. Facebook And instagram.

The main concern of the European Commission is that the interface and algorithms of both social networks stimulate addictive behavior in children. In this sense, they note that Instagram and Facebook can take advantage of the inexperience of minors and drag them down the “rabbit hole effect.”

Regulators define the latter as a behavior that encourages young people to watch videos that interest them and then receive more similar content to keep them glued to the screen. It was warned that this action, driven by recommendation algorithms, could lead to serious physical and mental health problems.

Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, said they did not believe Meta was doing enough to comply with the DSA. As a reminder, the rules treat Instagram and Facebook as “very large online platforms” (VLOPs). This is because they exceed the threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the European Union.

Instagram and Facebook are under new investigation in Europe

Research on Instagram and Facebook will not be limited to studying the possible addictive effects on minors. The European Commission will also review whether Meta has complied with the DSA requirements for prevent children from accessing inappropriate content. In this sense, it will be studied whether age verification options on platforms are effective or not.

On the other hand, measures security and privacy applies to minors who use Instagram and Facebook. Particularly if the default configuration of these settings and the recommendation engine provide sufficient protection for them. “We will make every effort to protect young people,” Breton said. via X (Twitter).

Through this investigation, the European Commission will attempt to determine whether Meta has violated Articles 28, 34 and 35 of the Digital Services Act. If any violation is found to have occurred, the corporation headed by Mark Zuckerberg could face a significant financial penalty. Specifically, fines of up to 6% of your global annual turnover.

Instagram and Facebook are not the first social networks to be investigated in Europe for possible addictive behavior in children and adolescents. In February, EU regulators filed a case against TikTok for the same reasons, and in April, video platform ByteDance was forced to cancel its rewards program through TikTok Light. Breton accused the Chinese app of using FOMO-inducing elements (Fear of missing out) and expose minors to the risk of addiction, anxiety, depression and eating disorders.