{"id":1182182,"date":"2026-09-02T09:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1182182\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T09:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:16:24","slug":"listen-could-the-eu-get-the-same-teen-protection-commitments-from-meta-as-the-us-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1182182\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen: Could the EU get the same teen-protection commitments from Meta as the US? \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Production: By\u00a0Europod<\/a>, in co-production with\u00a0Sphera Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series \u201cBriefed\u201d hosted by L\u00e9a Marchal.\u00a0The podcast is available on\u00a0all major platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find the full transcript below:<\/p>\n

In the United States, a group of 29 states has achieved what Congress has so far failed to do: secure real commitments from Meta, the parent company of Facebook<\/a> and Instagram, to limit the addictive nature of these platforms for young people.<\/p>\n

Could the EU hope to achieve something similar?<\/p>\n

The 29 US states behind the case had been seeking $200bn [around \u20ac173bn] in damages from Meta. They ultimately reached an agreement with the company on 26 August, under which Meta will pay them $18bn [around \u20ac16bn].<\/p>\n

But more significantly, they secured changes to the Facebook and Instagram apps that could completely change the game.<\/p>\n

Meta has agreed to limit the amount of time under-18s can spend on Instagram and Facebook to two hours a day combined. On top of that, minors will no longer be able to access the two apps at night, or receive notifications during those hours.<\/p>\n

California attorney general Rob Bonta welcomed the agreement, saying it would \u201cmake social media less dangerous for children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The announcement is reminiscent of a major development on the other side of the Atlantic: the European Commission has also opened an investigation into Facebook and Instagram. And last July, it preliminarily concluded that the apps had addictive features that were in breach of the Digital Services Act, the major piece of EU legislation governing the conduct of large online platforms.<\/p>\n

So how are the two cases different? And what lessons should Europeans draw from the US agreement?<\/p>\n

The two cases are actually quite similar, except that the US states focused specifically on the harm caused to minors, while the Europeans are taking a broader approach.<\/p>\n

The EU is also asking Meta to disable infinite scrolling for users and, for example, to stop videos from playing automatically.<\/p>\n

But in both cases, the goal is to protect children \u2014 and adults \u2014 from the risks associated with social media.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So where exactly does the EU stand in its own case against Meta?<\/p>\n

The commission opened its investigation<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

It then preliminarily concluded last July that Meta was not complying with EU rules, despite the corrective measures the company had proposed.<\/p>\n

So what happens next?<\/p>\n

Meta now has to respond to the commission. It can defend itself or propose new solutions.<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s services will then assess that response before adopting a final decision.<\/p>\n

At that point, we can expect two possibilities: the EU could impose a fine and\/or require the company to take corrective measures.<\/p>\n

The European Commission insists that this is not about competing over who can impose the biggest fine. But it does want to achieve results for European citizens that are at least as effective as those obtained by the Americans.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But is the US agreement really as effective as it sounds?<\/p>\n

Until we have all the details of the agreement, it\u2019s difficult to say whether the commitments will solve all the problems. And the measures will be implemented over several years.<\/p>\n

For now, Meta is trying to reassure people. The company has committed, for example, to doing everything it can to detect multiple accounts that a child might have created to get around the time limits. The same applies to attempts to circumvent age restrictions.<\/p>\n

However, some people believe the measures announced will not address the wider question of how Facebook and Instagram influence people\u2019s behaviour \u2014 particularly when it comes to algorithms that promote divisive or even extreme content.<\/p>\n

And that may be precisely where Europeans could go further in their demands on Meta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Production: By\u00a0Europod, in co-production with\u00a0Sphera Network. EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1182183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[217083,2000,299,5187,1699,220437,226414,220434,308488,220432,220435,226412,308486,220433,220436,226413,308487],"class_list":["post-1182182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-typedefinedterm","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-identifier30","tag-identifier4083","tag-identifier4381","tag-identifier4745","tag-namebig-tech","tag-namedigital","tag-namepodcast","tag-nametech","tag-termcodebig-tech","tag-termcodedigital","tag-termcodepodcast","tag-termcodetech"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1182183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}