The EU has demanded digital giants, including Snapchat and YouTube, explain how they are protecting children from online harm, as member states explore restricting minors’ access to social media at a European level.
The European Union has stringent rules regulating the digital space, including what children should be able to see, but there is increasing concern that more needs to be done to tackle the issue.
Inspired by Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, Brussels is analysing whether such a measure could work in the 27-country bloc after several states, including France and Spain, pushed for limits on minors’ access to platforms.
Europe’s biggest weapon for ensuring platforms tackle illegal content and keep children safe online is the Digital Services Act, which has sparked censorship claims from the US tech sector and retaliation threats from President Donald Trump.
Now, as part of “investigative actions” under the DSA, the European Commission has sent a request for information to Snapchat about what steps it is taking to prevent access for children under 13.
The commission has also asked Apple’s App Store and the Google Play marketplace to provide details on measures taken to prevent children downloading illegal or harmful apps for example, those with gambling services or sexual content.
The EU wants to know in particular how Apple and Google stop children downloading tools to create non-consensual sexualised content so-called “nudify apps” as well as how they apply apps’ age ratings.
A request for information can lead to probes and even fines, but does not in itself suggest the law has been broken, nor is it a move towards punishment.
It also wants YouTube to provide details on its recommender system, “following reporting of harmful content being disseminated to minors”, the commission said.
The demands are not the first under the DSA.
The EU is also probing Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok, over fears they are not doing enough to combat the addictive nature of their platforms for children.
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