Meta told it's violating EU law by not doing enough to keep children off Facebook and Instagram

Cnbc · Apr 29, 2026 · 348 words · By Sawdah Bhaimiya

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What to know about Meta told it's violating EU law by not doing enough to keep children off Facebook and Instagram

The European Commission has found that Meta breached EU law by failing to prevent under-13s from accessing its platforms, as scrutiny of the tech giant's handling of child safety intensifies.

Claims checked 11

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The European Commission has found that Meta breached EU law by failing to prevent under-13s from accessing its platforms, as scrutiny of the tech giant's handling of child safety intensifies.

Why it matters

The commission said Wednesday that its preliminary investigations concluded that Meta violated the EU's Digital Services Act because the minimum age requirement of 13 for Instagram and Facebook is not adequately enforced.

Common ground

When creating an account, minors can input a false birth date, with no controls in place to verify it, the Commission said.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Meta told it's violating EU law by not doing enough to keep children off Facebook and Instagram?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that If the commission's preliminary findings are confirmed by its final investigation, it can fine Meta up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/29/meta-eu-law-minors-facebook-instagram-child-safe…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 2

schedule Pending 1

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Claim 1: “If the commission's preliminary findings are confirmed by its final investigation, it can fine Meta up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the web search results or cross-references regarding the specific penalty of up to 6% of worldwide annual turnover if the preliminary findings are confirmed.

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Claim 2: “A Meta spokesperson told CNBC: "We disagree with these preliminary 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.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that a Meta spokesperson stated that the company disagrees with the preliminary findings and asserted that they have measures in place to detect and remove underage accounts.

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web search NEUTRAL — The European Commission has issued a preliminary finding against Meta for allegedly failing to prevent children under 13 from using Instagram and Facebook. The Commission said that its findings ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/eu-finds-meta-in-b…

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web search NEUTRAL — "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 Meta spokesperson said, …
https://newswav.com/article/eu-finds-meta-in-breach-of-digit…

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web search NEUTRAL — The spokesperson also stated that Meta continues to invest in technologies aimed at identifying and removing accounts belonging to underage users. The company said it is engaging constructively with E…
https://theenglishchronicle.com/News/21727/

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Claim 3: “Meta can now review the Commission's preliminary investigation findings and respond in writing.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the web search results or cross-references to confirm Meta's right to review the preliminary investigation findings and respond in writing.

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Claim 4: “"The Commission considers that Instagram and Facebook must change their risk assessment methodology, in order to evaluate which risks arise on Instagram and Facebook in the European Union, and how they manifest," the commission said in its announcement.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that the Commission required Meta to revise its risk assessment methodology to better evaluate and mitigate risks related to minors in the EU.

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web search NEUTRAL — The EU today opened a formal investigation into Facebook and Instagram on suspicion the platforms owned by Meta are causing addictive behaviour in children.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/eu-launches-probe-into-faceb…

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web search NEUTRAL — The commission said Meta must revise its risk assessment methodology and strengthen measures to prevent, detect, and remove underage users, ensuring a “high level of privacy, safety and security” for …
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/eu-commission-finds-meta-in-…

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web search NEUTRAL — Risk analysis framework includes risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication.It is the employer’s responsibility to perform risk assessments when: new processes or steps are introduced in…
https://safetyculture.com/topics/risk-assessment

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Claim 5: “The commission's preliminary findings come after two high-profile U.S. court rulings in March: one found that aspects of its platform design contributed to addiction and mental health harms among teenagers, while the other concluded that the company misled users about children's safety on its platforms.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 6: “"We continue to invest in technologies to find and remove underage users and will have more to share next week about additional measures rolling out soon. Understanding age is an industry-wide challenge, which requires an industry-wide solution, and we will continue to engage constructively with the European Commission on this important issue."”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that Meta's spokesperson stated that understanding age is an 'industry-wide challenge' requiring an 'industry-wide solution' and that the company would continue to engage constructively with the Commission.

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web search NEUTRAL — The spokesperson said understanding the age of users was “an industry-wide challenge, which requires an industry-wide solution” and that it continued to “engage constructively” with the commission.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/29/meta-foun…

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web search NEUTRAL — Meta Accused of Failing to Keep Children Off Instagram and Facebook in Europe. European Union regulators said the company did not have effective controls to check a user’s self-declared date of birth,…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/business/meta-instagram-f…

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web search NEUTRAL — Some of the user-made AI characters that Meta makes available on Instagram and Facebook include sexualized chatbots such as “Step Mom” and “Russian Girl.” Instead, teen users will only have access to …
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/29/meta-updates-chatbot-rules…

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Claim 7: “Even when a minor's account is reported, the commission found that there are often no adequate follow ups or measures to get them off the platform.”

SINGLE SOURCE

One web search result explicitly states that after a minor is reported, the company often does not follow up. This specific finding regarding the lack of follow-up measures is not corroborated by other independent sources provided.

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web search NEUTRAL — Private accounts’ recently followed users cannot be accessed. Our tool only works with public profiles. Is there a limit on how many accounts I can check? You can view multiple accounts with no limits…
https://easycomment.ai/instagram-recent-follower-viewer

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web search NEUTRAL — Ask others to help report your account. When an account is reported for being under the age of requirement, TikTok will delete it. To report an account, do the following
https://www.wikihow.com/Delete-a-TikTok-Account

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web search NEUTRAL — Sign in to your Zoom account to join a meeting, update your profile, change your settings, and more!
https://zoom.us/signin

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Claim 8: “Additionally, the tool for reporting a minor's account is "difficult to use" and requires up to seven clicks to access the form, the commission said.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that Meta's tool for reporting minors is criticized as 'difficult to use' and requires multiple steps (up to seven steps) to access the necessary form.

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web search NEUTRAL — Regulators said Meta’s tool for reporting minors is “difficult to use and not effective,” with up to seven steps required just to access the necessary form. After a minor is reported for being under 1…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/business/meta-instagram-f…

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web search NEUTRAL — This tutorial shows you how to create a form based off of a table.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maly8s-CfFg

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web search NEUTRAL — At the top of the form, click Settings. Next to "Presentation", click the Down arrow . Turn on "Disable auto-save for all respondents". NOTE: the red * Required notification is simply informing that a…
https://support.google.com/docs/thread/208364345/allow-users…

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Claim 9: “The commission said Wednesday that its preliminary investigations concluded that Meta violated the EU's Digital Services Act because the minimum age requirement of 13 for Instagram and Facebook is not adequately enforced.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that Meta was found in breach of the DSA for not adequately preventing children below the minimum age (13) from accessing the services, despite the age requirement being set by Meta itself.

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web search NEUTRAL — “Instagram and Facebook are doing very little to prevent children below this age from accessing their services,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, securi…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/business/meta-instagram-f…

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web search NEUTRAL — Following an initial assessment, Meta was found in breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires it to “diligently identify and mitigate the risks” of under-13s using its platforms.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/29/meta-foun…

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web search NEUTRAL — - Meta has not taken sufficient measures to 'diligently identify, assess, mitigate' risks linked to minors using its platforms, despite its own rules setting 13 as minimum age, says commission.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/eu-commission-finds-meta-in-…

info

Claim 10: “When creating an account, minors can input a false birth date, with no controls in place to verify it, the Commission said.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim states that minors can input a false birth date without adequate verification controls. While one web search result discusses circumventing age checks by inputting a false birth date (related to TikTok), this specific claim about Meta's lack of controls is not independently corroborated by the other sources provided. Therefore, it is marked as single-source based on the evidence provided, though the context suggests a general industry issue.

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web search NEUTRAL — Prior to the Garante’s action, TikTok’s age verification checks had been widely criticized as trivially easier for kids to circumvent — with children merely needing to input a false birth date that su…
https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/12/tiktok-removes-500k-accoun…

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web search NEUTRAL — how to create unlimited gmail accounts without phone number verification in Telugu 2021RajRebel Creations36K views • 4 years agoLivePlaylist ()Mix (50+). 6:38.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aso3Xe81I-A

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web search NEUTRAL — Etsy welcomes minors between the ages of 13 and 17 to buy and sell on Etsy as long as you have the permission and direct supervision of your parent or legal guardian.
https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040983333-Can-Min…

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Claim 11: “The European Commission has found that Meta breached EU law by failing to prevent under-13s from accessing its platforms, as scrutiny of the tech giant's handling of child safety intensifies.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that the European Commission found Meta in breach of EU law (DSA) for failing to prevent under-13s from accessing its platforms. Sources mention the preliminary finding and the need for Meta to revise its risk assessment.

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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.