Minors under 13 should not be accessing Instagram and Facebook, per Meta's own terms (the company owns both social media sites). But is the company actually doing enough to stop them from doing so? The European Commission says no.
On Wednesday, the European Commission announced preliminary findings that Instagram and Facebook are in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for "failing to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of minors under 13 years old accessing their services."
According to the EU's main executive body, though the platforms say children under 13 cannot set up an Instagram or Facebook account, minors can easily circumvent the safety measures Meta has put in place to stop them. For example, Meta requires a birth date when you create an account — even to create a Teen Account (for under 16s) — but a minor can simply enter a false birth date, with no additional checks in place.
Meta also has a tool to report minors under 13 on the platforms, but the EC says it's "difficult to use and not effective, requiring up to seven clicks just to access the reporting form." And even if a user jumps through all the hoops required to file a report, there "often is no proper follow-up, and the reported minor can simply continue to use the service without any type of check."
This means that Meta needs to strengthen its measures to "prevent, detect and remove minors under the age of 13" from its services. If the company fails to do so, the preliminary findings might be confirmed, and the EC could issue a fine "proportionate to the infringement."
Meta did a major overhaul of Teen Accounts in 2025, including making default age-appropriate content filters which add a PG-13 rating on content unsuitable for children under 13. But these filters won't tackle the problem of minors creating accounts in the first place.
While the EU's fine cannot exceed six percent of Meta's total worldwide annual turnover, given that Meta's revenue in 2025 was $200 billion dollars, the fine could still be very hefty.
