(Finance) – The Commission EU has initiated a formal procedure to assess whether Halfsupplier of Facebook And Instagram, may have violated the Digital Services Act in areas related to the protection of minors. The Commission, we read in a note, fears that the systems of Facebook and Instagram, including their algorithms, could stimulate addictions behavioral in the children and create the so-called effects of “rabbit hole“, that is, keeping the user in a loop of content from which he finds it increasingly difficult to escape. The Commission is also concerned about the age guarantee and verification methods implemented by Meta.
“Today we are taking another step to ensure the safety of young users online. With the Digital Services Act we have established rules that can protect minors when they interact online. We fear that Facebook and Instagram may stimulate behavioral addiction and that verification methods of age implemented by Meta on their services are not adequate and that they will now continue a thorough investigation. We want to protect the mental and physical health of young people,” he said Margrethe VestagerExecutive Vice President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age
“Today we have launched formal proceedings against Meta. We are not convinced that it has done enough to comply with its obligations under the Digital Services Act to mitigate the risks of adverse physical and mental health effects on young Europeans on its Facebook platforms and Instagram – he added Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market –. We will now take an in-depth look at the platforms’ potential addiction and “rabbit hole” effects, the effectiveness of their age verification tools, and the level of privacy afforded to minors in the operation of recommendation systems. We are doing everything we can to protect our children.”
“We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate online experiences – has replicated Half through a spokesman –. This is why over the last decade we have developed over 50 tools and policies designed to protect them. This is a challenge that the whole sector is facing and we are ready to share more details on our work with the European Commission.”
(Photo: Photo by Dima Solomin on Unsplash)