Meta faces more questions in Europe about child safety risks on Instagram. Regulatory authorities in the European Union have issued another formal request for information (RFI) to Meta, asking for additional information regarding the company’s response to concerns regarding the safety of children on Instagram. These concerns include the measures that Meta is taking to address the risks associated with the sharing of self-generated child sexual abuse material (SG-CSAM) on the social network system.
By the Digital Services Act (DSA), which saw its application for more giant in-scope platforms (including Instagram) beginning in late August, the request is being made per the freshly redesigned online rulebook created by the bloc.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) ensures that large technology companies are obligated to combat illicit material, which includes putting safeguards in place to prevent the exploitation of their services. It is not surprising to find that many of the European Commission’s initial requests for information are about children’s safety because the law places a lot of emphasis on protecting minors.
Following closely on the heels of a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that suggests Instagram is having difficulty cleaning up a CSAM problem that it exposed this summer when it reported that Instagram’s algorithms were connecting a web of accounts that were being used for making, buying, and trading underage-sex content, the latest request from the Commission to Meta comes as a direct result of this discovery.
Following the publication of the WSJ’s exposé in June, the European Union warned Meta that it poses a danger of “heavy sanctions” if it does not take prompt action to address the child protection problems.
After many months, a recent article by the Wall Street Journal asserts that Meta has not successfully addressed the problems detected. This is even though the firm has established a child safety task group to prevent “its systems from enabling and even promoting a vast network of pedophile accounts,” as the newspaper puts it.
The study states, “Five months later, tests conducted by the Journal and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection show that Meta’s recommendation systems continue to promote such content.” This refers to accounts that are committed to generating and distributing content that might be considered sexually explicit for minors. Although the corporation has removed hashtags that were associated with pedophilia, its systems occasionally offer new hashtags that have some minor variances. Even when Meta is made aware of problematic user groups and accounts, it has been inconsistent in removing these undesirable entities.
Meta’s ineffectiveness in addressing the issue of unlawful CSAM/SG-CSAM sharing and its failure to take appropriate action on the accompanying threats to child safety might result in significant financial losses for the firm in the European Union. Suppose the Commission determines that the terms of the regulation have been violated. In that case, the DSA allows it to levy fines of up to six percent of the worldwide annual turnover.
A little more than a year ago, Meta was already punished for less than half a billion dollars after discovering that Instagram had broken the data protection standards for minors that the EU established.
“The Commission is requesting that Meta provide additional information on the measures it has taken to comply with its obligations to assess risks and take effective mitigation measures linked to the protection of minors. This includes information regarding the circulation of SG-CSAM on Instagram,” the Commission said. Additionally, information is being asked regarding Instagram’s recommender system and the amplification of potentially hazardous content, as stated in a press release issued by the European Union (EU) today, which announced its most recent step in gathering intelligence on the site.
There is a potential that Meta might face reputational problems in addition to the risk of financial punishment if EU authorities are seen continually challenging the company’s attitude to protect minority children.
Considering that DSA compliance has begun to apply to the firm, this is the third request for information that Meta has received, and it is the second one that focuses on child safety on Instagram. (In addition, the European Union has requested more information from Meta on how it manages content risks associated with the Israel-Hamas war, as well as the measures it is taking to guarantee voting safety.)
Per the DSA, the European Union has not officially declared any inquiry procedures yet. However, the initial flurry of requests for information demonstrates that it is now doing evaluations that may lead to such a move, which opens up the possibility of fines in the future if any violations are verified.
The deadline for Meta to supply the Commission with the most recent batch of data on child safety has been set for December 22. It is also possible to incur fines from the DSA if you do not comply with requests for information (RFIs), such as by submitting inaccurate, incomplete, or deceptive information in response to a request.
