In the wake of a groundbreaking multi-state settlement that forces Meta to implement sweeping new restrictions on teenage use of its Facebook and Instagram platforms, the European Union has issued a clear call for the tech giant to extend equivalent child safety protections to young users across the bloc.
Last month, the European Commission already ruled that Meta violated the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) — a landmark regulatory framework designed to curb harmful practices by large technology companies operating in the EU’s 27 member states. At that time, regulators ordered the company to draft concrete proposals to reduce risks to minors using its platforms.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters Thursday that EU regulators have held new discussions with Meta following the U.S. settlement, which Brussels has monitored “very closely.” “The ball is in Meta’s court,” Regnier said. “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 confirmed that EU investigators are probing Meta over the same harmful design features that were the focus of the U.S. legal action, and regulators are pushing to secure “at least equally good protection for our kids here in the European Union.” Specific demands from Brussels include mandatory, built-in screen time management tools and robust, default parental controls for minor accounts.
EU regulators have long flagged risks to children from specific Meta platform features, including infinite scrolling functionality, algorithmically-driven highly personalized content feeds that promote compulsive use, and automatic video playback. Regulators issued a nearly identical warning to rival short-form video platform TikTok back in February.
Meta has publicly stated that it disputes the EU’s DSA violation finding, but has committed to engage “constructively” with regulators to address their concerns. If the company fails to meet the bloc’s demands, EU rules allow regulators to impose fines of up to 6% of Meta’s total global annual revenue, a penalty that could run into billions of dollars.
The U.S. settlement, which resolved a years-long landmark lawsuit brought by a coalition of U.S. states in California, requires Meta to pay up to $16.7 billion in damages and implement a far-reaching set of new safety rules for underage users. These include an automatic block on platform access during nighttime hours and a default daily cumulative usage cap of two hours across all of Meta’s apps. The agreement marks the strictest set of child safety obligations Meta has ever agreed to, coming after years of sustained criticism from parents, child health experts and policymakers over the impact of social media on adolescent mental health and development.
Parallel to its ongoing DSA investigation, the EU is also considering broader age restrictions on social media access, a move driven by multiple member states that want to follow Australia’s lead on strict child online protection rules. Last month, an expert panel convened by the EU presented its recommendations to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen is scheduled to outline proposed new restrictions in a major policy speech on September 16, with a formal draft legislative proposal expected before the end of the year.
The panel, which includes doctors, academic researchers, youth representatives and parents, recommended a complete ban on screen use for infants and toddlers. For children under 12, the panel advised that only age-appropriate social media platforms should be allowed, all under direct adult supervision. For adolescents aged 13 to 18, the panel recommended gradually expanding autonomous access only to platforms that have already implemented mandatory core child safety features.
“This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children,” von der Leyen said last month, emphasizing that the burden of proof falls to technology companies to “prove that their services do no harm.”