EU opens investigation into Snapchat over child protection failures
The European Commission opened an investigation on 26 March 2026 into whether Snapchat complies with Digital Services Act requirements to protect minors from grooming, criminal recruitment, and sales of illegal products. The Commission's preliminary findings allege that Snapchat's age verification through self-declaration is insufficient and that the platform fails to prevent harmful exposure to minors.
What happened
The European Commission announced on 26 March 2026 an investigation into Snapchat, which has approximately 100 million monthly active users in the European Union.
The Commission alleges in preliminary conclusions that Snapchat fails to meet its obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to protect minors from exposure to grooming attempts, criminal recruitment, and information about illegal product sales.
Reported impact
The Commission found that Snapchat users are exposed to "tentatives de grooming" (solicitation of minors for sexual purposes), recruitment for criminal activities such as the sale of illegal products including drugs, weapons, alcohol, and electronic cigarettes, and related harmful contacts and behaviour.
Index analysis
The investigation will examine Snapchat's age verification methods, which the Commission considers insufficient as they rely on user self-declaration rather than robust verification to protect children under 13 from harmful exposure.
The Commission also cited failures in data privacy settings and default account configuration as additional areas of concern under DSA compliance.
Governance controls
Henna Virkkunen, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for technological sovereignty, stated that "Snapchat seems to have forgotten that the Digital Services Act imposes high safety standards for all users."
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.