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

the european commission said wednesday that meta is violating eu law by not keeping children under 13 off facebook and instagram. the commission's preliminary investigation found that meta's minimum age requirement of 13 isn't enforced — minors can just input a false birth date with no verification. the tool for reporting a minor's account requires up to seven clicks to access, and even when reported, there are often no adequate follow-ups. meta disagrees with the findings. a spokesperson said the platforms are intended for people 13 and older, and that the company has measures to detect and remove underage accounts. they called understanding age "an industry-wide challenge" and said they'll share more next week about additional measures. if the commission's final investigation confirms the findings, meta can be fined up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover. this follows two u.s. court rulings in march — one found aspects of meta's platform design contributed to addiction and mental health harms among teenagers, the other that the company misled users about children's safety.