Europa: They consider Facebook and Instagram are addictive
The European Commission opened on Thursday an investigation against Meta for considering that Facebook and Instagram are addictive.
In this regard, the European body, opened on Thursday, May 16, an infringement procedure against Meta, considering that Facebook and Instagram are addictive among minors.
But that, moreover, despite the warning, the company has not taken effective remedial action.
“We are not convinced that it has done enough to comply with the obligations of the Digital Services Act to reduce the risks of negative effects on the physical and mental health of young Europeans on its Facebook and Instagram platforms,” said the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.”
The investigation will be based on the fact that Facebook and Instagram are addictive in minors with the influence of its algorithm.
As a statement explains, Brussels believes that the algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram “exploit the weakness and inexperience of minors.”
They consider Facebook and Instagram are addictive
According to the commission Facebook and Instagram are addictive on minors by showing them content based on their interests, thus fostering their addiction to social networks.
It also considers that Facebook and Instagram’s age verification tools are neither reasonable, proportionate, nor effective in preventing minors from accessing inappropriate content.
READ HERE: THREE SURFERS MURDERED IN MEXICO: IDENTITIES.
And that the privacy and security measures that Facebook and Instagram have by default do not sufficiently protect minors.
After studying the risk analysis that Meta, which implies that Facebook and Instagram are addictive in minors, the Community Executive suspects that the company would be in breach of the law on digital services, so it decided to open the investigation.
The opening of this investigation, for which there is no time limit, allows the Commission to take precautionary measures against Facebook and Instagram, as it already did with TikTok, forcing it to suspend the points program of the Lite version that it opened in Spain and France.
On the other hand, the opening of this investigation, for which there is no time limit, allows the Commission to take precautionary measures against Facebook and Instagram, as it already did with TikTok, forcing it to suspend the points program of the Lite version it opened in Spain and France.
Since the digital services law came into force, which obliges platforms to protect minors, remove illegal content and greater transparency in the design of algorithms, Brussels has opened four infringement proceedings against Meta, two against TikTok and one against AliExpress.
The investigation To determine that Facebook and Instagram are addictive in minors is carried out after analyzing the risk assessment report sent by Meta last September and responses to previous formal requests for information from the Commission, according to the Community Executive.
There is no fixed deadline for the conclusion of the investigations announced today, an EU official told a press conference.
“It depends on how cooperative the platform is, we have no reason to assume that they have reason not to be cooperative,” he said. On the protection of minors, we will go as fast as possible, but today is just the first step,” the official said.
Likewise, on another front, on April 30, Facebook and Instagram were the subject of another investigation into their tools to combat disinformation.
The investigations come after the Commission last month (April 22) opened a similar probe into TikTok after the social networking platform launched its TikTok Lite app in France and Spain.
Europa Press
