59 MEPs call on Ursula von der Leyen to sanction Meta for non-compliance with the DSA

A week after the agreement concluded by Meta in the United States, the shock wave continues in Brussels. 59 MEPs call on Ursula von der Leyen to “sanction Meta without delay”. In a letter sent this Wednesday to the President of the European Commission, the signatories ask her to complete a procedure opened against Meta under the Digital Services Regulation (DSA) in April 2024. “European children are not worth less than American children. It would be unthinkable for them to be less well protected, when we have the most demanding framework in the world. The European Parliament did its job by voting for the DSA three years ago. It’s now up to the European Commission to do its own.” As part of this procedure, Brussels noted last July that the “addictive design” of Instagram and Facebook, with infinite scrolling, push notifications and even personalized recommendations, violated the DSA. The European executive criticizes Mark Zuckerberg's group for not having correctly assessed and limited the risks of addiction that users of the two platforms develop, in particular minors and vulnerable adults. He is not satisfied with the parental controls integrated into Facebook and Instagram, which would be too complicated to manage, nor with the settings to limit teenagers' screen time. At the time, Meta disputed Brussels' preliminary findings, while pledging to work with the Commission to "deliver a safe and positive online environment." Skip the ad Two months later, the 59 European parliamentarians intend to put pressure on the President of the Commission. They ask Ursula von der Leyen for a “decision of non-compliance”, sanctions, “commitments at least equivalent to the concessions obtained in the United States”, and “temporary suspension if Meta persists”. The suspension of a platform, which has been in effect since February 2024, has never been used. “What Meta deems unfounded in Brussels, she proposes to Oakland,” continues Stéphanie Yon Courtin, Renew MEP, who initiated this call. For years, the company explained to us that these measures were disproportionate and technically infeasible. She has just accepted them, under pressure from the American justice system. This agreement demolishes all his arguments.” Restrictive measures On August 26, as part of an amicable agreement, Meta committed to limiting by default, for those under 18, two hours per day on Instagram and Facebook combined, as well as blocking access to the two applications, excluding messaging, from midnight to 6 a.m. Mark Zuckerberg's company, which risked several hundred billion in fines, will have to pay $17 billion to around fifty American states. The day after this agreement, the Commission did not fail to react to the current procedure. “The ball is in Meta’s court” and the group “knows what we expect from them,” declared Thomas Regnier, spokesperson for the European executive. “We have had discussions with Meta since this agreement was announced on the other side of the Atlantic,” he said. “It is a continuous dialogue that we are carrying out in order to offer our children, here in the European Union, at least as good protection,” recalled this spokesperson.