Sexual Images of Minors on Instagram: EU Demands Explanations From Meta
Today, the European Commission has requested Meta, the parent company of Instagram, to report on measures taken against the spread of sexual images of minors on this social network in accordance with the new EU legislation.
This was reported by Reuters.
The European Commission is asking Meta to provide a detailed description and explanation of how safety measures work on the social network. This includes the functioning of recommendation algorithms and tools for the dissemination of potentially harmful content.
The company must provide access to information by December 22, 2023. Similar requests have also been received by companies X and TikTok.
Earlier in October, the European Commission sent the first similar request regarding countering the spread of content related to terrorism and violent actions.
"Following their designation as Very Large Online Platforms, Facebook and Instagram are required to comply with the full set of provisions introduced by the DSA, including the assessment and mitigation of risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, disinformation, and any negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights," the European Commission's statement reads.
Additionally, according to the announcement, if Meta does not provide the relevant information, the Commission has the right to impose fines on the company.
Recall that on August 25, 2023, the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force in the European Union, imposing new obligations on giant companies in the EU territory. Currently, this concerns the 19 largest online platforms, covering about 45 million users in the EU.
In particular, it involves preventing the spread of harmful content, prohibiting certain methods of targeting users, and exchanging certain sensitive data with regulators.
Last month, it was also revealed that the European Commission called on all executive services of the European Union not to launch advertising on the social network X of Elon Musk due to concerns about the spread of misinformation.
Immediately after this, American giants such as Apple, Disney, Comcast, Warner Brothers Discovery, Paramount Telecom, and the film studio Lionsgate announced the suspension of advertising contracts with X. It turned out that their advertising messages were placed alongside recognizable hashtags of white nationalists.