EU says Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok violate rules: what's it about?
Kyiv • UNN
The European Commission stated that Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok violate EU legislation by not providing users with easy ways to report illegal content. The companies face fines of up to 6% of their annual global turnover.
Social networks Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have violated European Union law by failing to provide users with simple ways to report illegal content, including child sexual abuse material and terrorist content. This is reported by UNN with reference to the statement of the European Commission, writes UNN.
Details
In a preliminary finding published on Friday, the EU executive body stated that Meta, the $1.8 trillion California-based company that operates the social media services, had introduced unnecessary steps in user reporting processes.
The European Commission noted that both platforms appeared to have used deceptive design – known as "dark patterns" – in the reporting mechanism in a way that could "confuse and deter" users.
The Commission found that this constitutes a breach of the company's obligations under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and means that "Meta's mechanisms for flagging and removing illegal content may be ineffective." Meta denies violating the law.
As for Meta, neither Facebook nor Instagram appear to provide a user-friendly and easily accessible "notice and action" mechanism for users to flag illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material and terrorist content.
Activists continue to claim security flaws in some Meta products. Last month, Meta whistleblower Arturo Bejar published research that he said showed most of the new safety tools deployed on Instagram were ineffective, making children under 13 unsafe on Instagram.
Meta rejected the report's findings and said parents had robust tools at hand. The company introduced mandatory teen accounts on Instagram in September 2024, and this month said it would introduce a version of the PG-13 movie rating system to give parents stronger control over their teens' use of the social media platform.
The Commission also stated that Meta made it difficult for users whose content was blocked or whose accounts were suspended. It found that the appeals mechanism did not appear to allow users to provide explanations or evidence to support their appeals, limiting its effectiveness.
The ongoing investigation was conducted in cooperation with Coimisiún na Meán, the Irish Digital Services Coordinator. If the Commission's position is finally confirmed, it could fine Meta up to 6% of its total annual global turnover and impose periodic penalties to force the platform to comply.
The Commission also made a preliminary finding that TikTok and Meta violated their obligation to provide researchers with adequate access to public data that could be used to verify the extent to which minors are exposed to illegal or harmful content. It noted that researchers are often left with partial or unreliable data.
Providing researchers with access to platform data is an important transparency obligation under the DSA, as it ensures public scrutiny of the potential impact of platforms on our physical and mental health.
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The preliminary findings give platforms time to comply with the commission's requirements. If they fail to do so, they face a fine.
The Guardian writes that Henna Virkkunen, the commission's executive vice-president for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, said: "Our democracies depend on trust. This means that platforms must empower users, respect their rights and open their systems to scrutiny."
The Digital Technology Agreement (DSA) makes this a duty, not a choice. With today's actions, we have published preliminary findings on researchers' access to data from four platforms. We ensure that platforms are held accountable for their services, as required by EU law, to users and society.
A Meta spokesperson said: "We disagree with any suggestion that we have violated the DSA, and we continue to negotiate with the European Commission on these issues. In the European Union, we have made changes to our content reporting options, appeals process, and data access tools since the DSA came into force and are confident that these solutions comply with EU law."
TikTok was contacted for comment.
Addition
EU member states supported the idea of introducing a minimum age for access to social networks, while emphasizing the need to protect minors and preserve national powers in this matter.