European Commission - Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology

04/29/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/29/2026 01:21

Commission preliminarily finds Meta in breach of Digital Services Act for failing to prevent minors under 13 from using Instagram and Facebook

The European Commission has preliminarily found Meta's Instagram and Facebook in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for failing to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of minors under 13 years old accessing their services.

Despite Meta's own terms and conditions setting the minimum age to access Instagram and Facebook safely at 13, the measures put in place by the company to enforce these restrictions do not seem to be effective. The measures do not adequately prevent minors under the age of 13 from accessing their services nor promptly identify and remove them, if they already gained access.

For example, when creating an account, minors below 13 can enter a false birth date that makes them at least 13 years old, with no effective controls in place to check the correctness of the self-declared date of birth.

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European Commission - Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology published this content on April 29, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 29, 2026 at 07:21 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]