EU Investigates Meta Over Child Safety and Mental Health Concerns

The European Union's executive arm has launched an investigation into Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over concerns that it may be breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA requires tech companies to do more to protect European users online and clamp down on illegal content. Specifically, the EU is concerned about Meta's potential failure to protect children from becoming addicted to social media platforms and its compliance with legal obligations to provide appropriate age-verification tools to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content. The investigation will explore whether Meta's systems may be exploiting weaknesses and inexperience of children, potentially leading them down a "rabbit hole" of disturbing content. The EU is also concerned that these systems may stimulate behavioral addictions in children. This is the second investigation into Meta under the DSA, following an earlier probe into its compliance with the law.