EU finds Meta and TikTok failed to protect children from harmful content
The European Commission has made preliminary findings that Meta and TikTok violated child protection rules under the Digital Services Act by restricting researcher access to data and making it difficult to report child sexual abuse material, exposing both companies to potential fines of up to 6% of global turnover.
What happened
The European Commission made preliminary findings that Meta and TikTok violated child protection rules under the Digital Services Act by placing burdensome procedures and tools that restricted researchers' access to public data on whether children are exposed to illegal or harmful content.
Meta was additionally found to have made it difficult for users to report illegal content such as child sexual abuse material by neither Facebook nor Instagram providing a user-friendly and easily accessible 'Notice and Action' mechanism, and by using dark patterns or deceptive interface designs to deliberately make filing such reports both complex and confusing.
Reported impact
The restrictions on researcher access often left them with partial or unreliable data, impacting their ability to conduct research on whether users, including minors, are exposed to illegal or harmful content.
Governance controls
Both companies were given an opportunity to examine the Commission's report and file responses, with potential fines of up to 6% of their total worldwide annual turnover if responses are deemed unacceptable.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.