Members of the European Parliament have urged the EU to force Meta to introduce child‑protection measures in Europe that the company has committed to implementing in the United States to settle a historic lawsuit.
In August, the California‑based Meta reached an agreement with approximately 50 US states and territories. In addition to paying $17 billion, it pledged to limit the use of its social networks to two hours per day for users under 18 and to block access between midnight and 6 a.m. Only parents will be able to ease these restrictions.
However, these measures will apply only in the US states that signed the agreement, as it specifies that it does not set a precedent in other parts of the United States «or in any international jurisdiction».
This has outraged around 50 MEPs, led by French lawmaker Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew, centrists), who have called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to compel Meta to adopt the same measures in Europe. «European children are no less important than American children», and «it would be unacceptable for European minors to end up less protected», the lawmakers said, representing a broad spectrum of political groups—from the Greens and Social Democrats to the far right, far left, and centrists.
Addictive interfaces
The lawmakers are angry that Meta has challenged the preliminary findings of a European Commission investigation, which in July ordered the company to modify the interfaces of Facebook and Instagram**,** deemed to be excessively addictive. Yet these are the very changes the company has just committed to implementing in the US.
In the MEPs’ view, given these circumstances, the European Commission must conclude its investigation and hold Meta accountable, obliging the company to take comparable action. They even suggest that Brussels, «if necessary», should ask the EU Court to temporarily block access to Facebook and Instagram until the American giant complies with the requirements.
Such a block would be entirely unprecedented, but it is provided for as a last‑resort measure under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA)—the law on which the European investigation against Meta is based. The MEPs argue that this sanction could have a greater impact than the fines the EU has so far imposed on digital giants and could persuade them to change the harmful components of their business models.
European Commission’s response
In response to this initiative, the European Commission rejected the claim that its investigation into Meta is too slow, emphasizing that the US legal case lasted three years, and the company’s commitments in the US will be implemented over 10 years. «We were able to establish similar preliminary findings in just two years», stressed Thomas Regnier, the European Commission’s spokesperson for digital policy. He assured: «We will rigorously enforce our laws» and «we will not be satisfied with just one or two protective measures».
«We are ready to further strengthen the rules in Europe on this issue, but I believe that platforms could already do much more right now», said European Commission Vice‑President for Digital Policy Henna Virkkunen on the sidelines of a G20 ministerial meeting organized in the United States.
According to Le Parisien
