The European Commission issued a preliminary ruling in April 2026 finding that Meta is breaching Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) by failing to prevent children under 13 from accessing Facebook and Instagram. The decision follows an almost two-year investigation into Meta’s age-verification practices.
According to the Commission, Meta lacks adequate measures to stop under-13s from signing up or to identify and remove those already on its platforms. A key example cited: minors can simply enter a false birth date during registration, with no effective controls in place to verify their actual age. Reporting tools that allow users to flag underage accounts were also found to be “difficult to use and not effective,” with the Commission noting that reported underage users are often not removed.
EU tech policy leader Henna Virkkunen stated: “Meta’s own general conditions indicate their services are not intended for minors under 13. Yet, our preliminary findings show that Instagram and Facebook are doing very little to prevent children below this age from accessing their services.”
The Commission also described Meta’s internal risk assessment for protecting minors as “incomplete and arbitrary,” saying it contradicts evidence from across the EU suggesting 10 to 12 percent of children under 13 are using Facebook and/or Instagram. A separate, ongoing investigation is examining whether the platforms cause behavioral addictions in children.
Meta disputed the findings. “We’re clear that Instagram and Facebook are intended for people aged 13 and older and we have measures in place to detect and remove accounts from anyone under that age,” the company said in a statement to The Guardian.
Meta now has the opportunity to address the breaches by updating its risk assessment methodology and implementing stronger age verification tools. If the company fails to comply and receives a formal non-compliance ruling, it could face fines of up to six percent of its global annual turnover — potentially as much as $12 billion, based on Meta’s reported 2025 revenue of $201 billion.
Source: The Verge