The US got Meta to change Instagram and Facebook. Europe wants in.

Key Points:

• The United States reached an $18 billion settlement with Meta, requiring the company to implement safeguards on Facebook and Instagram to protect teenagers from addictive design features, marking a major consumer protection victory.
• The settlement mandates limiting daily screen time for minors, stricter age verification, and disabling cosmetic filters for teens over the next decade, setting a precedent that pressures Europe to enforce similar or stricter regulations under its Digital Services Act (DSA).
• European regulators have struggled for over two years to secure comparable concessions from Meta, with investigations into addictive design and underage access ongoing but without penalties or commitments from the company.
• EU officials and lawmakers are urging the European Commission to enforce the DSA more rigorously, emphasizing that Meta’s U.S. commitments should be extended to European users to avoid weaker protections in the EU than in the U.S.
• Child rights groups argue that the U.S. settlement’s focus on usage limits and parental controls is insufficient, advocating for fundamental changes to the platforms’ engagement-maximizing features, which the EU is pushing for but Meta has yet to accept.