EU finds Meta violates digital rules by not doing enough to keep children off Instagram and Facebook

The European Commission says Meta likely breached the Digital Services Act because its age checks are too weak to stop under-13 children from using Instagram and Facebook.

Meta disputes the preliminary finding, and the case could still lead to a formal non-compliance ruling and a fine of up to 6% of global annual turnover.

The outcome could force major changes to age verification across EU social platforms and set an important precedent for child-safety enforcement online.