After US settlement, EU says Meta must 'protect our kids too'

After US settlement, EU says Meta must 'protect our kids too' BRUSSELS, Belgium: The EU said Thursday (Aug 27) it expects Meta to address "addictive" features of its platforms in Europe, after the tech giant agreed to sweeping limits on teen use of Facebook and Instagram in some US states. The European Commission last month found Meta to be in breach of its Digital Services Act (DSA), one of several laws aimed at reining in Big Tech in the 27-nation bloc, ordering it to propose changes to make its platforms safer for children. European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said the EU has had new "exchanges" with the firm since the landmark settlement in the United States, which he said Brussels had been following "very closely". "The ball is in Meta's court," Regnier told reporters. "Meta knows what we are expecting from them. Now it is for the company to offer these commitments in the European Union to protect our kids here too." Regnier noted the commission was probing Meta "for exactly the same suspicions" as those raised in the US case, and was in dialogue with it to secure "at least equally good protection for our kids here in the European Union." Brussels has called out risks for children linked to Facebook and Instagram features including endless scroll, highly personalised feeds and the automatic playback of videos. "We expect proper screen time management. We expect proper parental control on these platforms," Regnier said. Meta has said it disagrees with the EU's findings but would engage "constructively" on the matter. Should Meta fail to address its concerns, the EU can in theory slap a fine of up to six per cent of the company's total worldwide annual turnover. Meta agreed to pay a coalition of US states as much as US$16.7 billion and to impose sweeping new limits on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram, according to a court filing ending a landmark trial in California. Under the deal, the firm agreed to a long list of new safeguards for young people including an automatic nighttime block and a cap of two hours of cumulative daily use across Meta's apps. The changes go further than anything Meta has accepted before, and follow years of criticism from parents and experts over the effects of the world's biggest social media platforms on children.