BRUSSELS: The EU accused Meta and TikTok of breaking the bloc&#39;s digital content rules, putting the companies at risk of hefty fines. The European Union has a bolstered legal armoury that demands Big Tech prevent the spread of illegal content and ensure digital markets are open to competition. On Friday the European Commission said Meta&#39;s Facebook and Instagram platforms and TikTok breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU&#39;s content moderation law attacked by US President Donald Trump&#39;s administration. It is the first time the commission has accused Meta of breaching the DSA, which the US giant rejected. Although the announcement includes TikTok, owned by China&#39;s ByteDance, it risks angering Trump, who has threatened to impose fresh tariffs on countries with regulations that seek to &quot;harm&quot; American technology. Despite his threats, the EU has said it will enforce its rules. Brussels said in its preliminary view that Meta and TikTok were failing to grant researchers &quot;adequate access to public data&quot;. EU regulators insist the rules are not just about transparency but ensuring researchers are able to carry out essential work, such as understanding how much children are exposed to dangerous content on popular platforms. TikTok insisted it was &quot;committed to transparency&quot;. &quot;We are reviewing the European Commission&#39;s findings, but requirements to ease data safeguards place the DSA and GDPR in direct tension,&quot; a TikTok spokesperson said, referring to the bloc&#39;s landmark data protection rules. &quot;If it is not possible to fully comply with both, we urge regulators to provide clarity on how these obligations should be reconciled,&quot; the spokesperson said. Risk of fines The EU also said Meta&#39;s platforms Facebook and Instagram were not providing user-friendly mechanisms to flag illegal content, and not providing effective systems for their users to challenge content-moderation decisions. Regulators accused Facebook and Instagram of suspected deceptive practices -- known as &quot;dark patterns&quot; when it comes to the &quot;Notice and Action&quot; mechanisms. &quot;Such practices can be confusing and dissuading,&quot; the commission said. The DSA stipulates that platforms must explain content-moderation decisions, which Facebook and Instagram have been failing to do, the EU said. Meta said: &quot;We disagree with any suggestion that we have breached the DSA&quot; and continued its talks with the EU. &quot;In the European Union, we have introduced changes to our content reporting options, appeals process, and data access tools since the DSA came into force and are confident that these solutions match what is required under the law,&quot; it said in a statement. &#39;Protecting free speech&#39;&nbsp; Meta and TikTok will now be able to access the EU&#39;s files and offer commitments that address Brussels&#39; concerns. If Brussels is not satisfied with the giants&#39; proposals, it can impose fines on the companies per breach per platform. EU digital spokesman Thomas Regnier pushed back on Friday against accusations, especially from the United States, that the DSA is a tool of censorship. &quot;When accused of censorship, we prove that the DSA is doing the opposite. It is protecting free speech, allowing citizens in the EU to fight back against unilateral content moderation decisions taken by Big Tech,&quot; he said. Both Meta and TikTok are under investigation in several EU probes, including one looking into concerns they are not doing enough to combat the addictive nature of their platforms for children.

Artificial Intelligence

The European Union has a bolstered legal armoury that demands Big Tech prevent the spread of illegal content and ensure digital markets are open to competition.

EU accuses Meta, TikTok of breaking digital content rules

Teenagers on Instagram will be restricted to seeing PG-13 content by default and won&#39;t be able to change their settings without a parent&#39;s permission, Meta announced on Tuesday.&nbsp;This means kids using teen-specific accounts will see photos and videos on Instagram that are similar to what they would see in a PG-13 movie &mdash; no sex, drugs or dangerous stunts, among others.&nbsp;&ldquo;This includes hiding or not recommending posts with strong language, certain risky stunts, and additional content that could encourage potentially harmful behaviors, such as posts showing marijuana paraphernalia,&rdquo; Meta said in a blog post Tuesday, calling the update the most significant since it introduced teen accounts last year.&nbsp;The company is also adding an even stricter setting that parents can set up for their children.&nbsp;The changes come as the social media giant faces relentless criticism over harms to children. As it seeks to add safeguards for teens, Meta has already promised it wouldn&rsquo;t show inappropriate content to teens, such as posts about self-harm, eating disorders or suicide.&nbsp;But this does not always work. A recent report, for instance, found that teen accounts researchers created were recommended age-inappropriate sexual content, including &ldquo;graphic sexual descriptions, the use of cartoons to describe demeaning sexual acts, and brief displays of nudity.&rdquo;&nbsp;In addition, Instagram also recommended a &ldquo;range of self-harm, self-injury, and body image content&rdquo; on teen accounts that the report says &ldquo;would be reasonably likely to result in adverse impacts for young people, including teenagers experiencing poor mental health, or self-harm and suicidal ideation and behaviors.&rdquo;&nbsp;Meta says the new restrictions go further than its previous safeguards. Teens will no longer be able to follow accounts that regularly share &ldquo;age-inappropriate content&rdquo; or if their name or bio contains something that isn&#39;t appropriate for teens, such as a link to an OnlyFans account.&nbsp;If teens already follow these accounts, they&rsquo;ll no longer be able to see or interact with their content, send them messages, or see their comments under anyone&rsquo;s posts, the company said. The accounts also won&rsquo;t be able to follow teens, send them private messages or comment on their posts.&nbsp;Meta said it already blocks certain search terms related to sensitive topics such as suicide and eating disorders, but the latest update will expand this to a broader range of terms, such as &ldquo;alcohol&rdquo; or &ldquo;gore&rdquo; &mdash; even if they are misspelled.&nbsp;The PG-13 update will also apply artificial intelligence chats and experiences targeted to teens, Meta said, &ldquo;meaning AIs should not give age-inappropriate responses that would feel out of place in a PG-13 movie.&rdquo;&nbsp;For parents who want an even stricter setting for their kids, Meta is also launching a &ldquo;limited content&rdquo; restriction that will block more content and remove teens&rsquo; ability to see, leave, or receive comments under posts.

Meta announced new safeguards on Instagram, restricting teens to PG-13 content by default. Teens will need parental approval to change settings, as the platform aims to curb exposure to sex, drugs, and harmful behaviors.

Instagram says it's safeguarding teens by limiting them to PG-13 content

MADRID: Facebook owner Meta on Wednesday defended its advertising model in a 550-million-euro trial in Spain over alleged breaches of EU data protection rules brought by more than 80 Spanish media organizations.&nbsp;EU rules oblige companies to obtain users&#39; consent to create personalized advertising from their data.&nbsp;Spain&#39;s main media association AMI says the US tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, created &quot;unfair competition&quot; by &quot;systematically&quot; breaking the law between May 2018 and July 2023.&nbsp;The association launched a lawsuit alleging unfair competition in digital advertising sales and is seeking 551 million euros ($647 million) in compensation.&nbsp;&quot;This isn&#39;t a case that affects only AMI&#39;s outlets, it has implications for media worldwide,&quot; AMI director general Irene Lanzaco told reporters before entering the Madrid commercial court where the trial will run until Thursday.&nbsp;&quot;What&#39;s at stake is the very survival of news media, which is being threatened by the predatory behaviour of a platform like Meta, acting with no regard for our legal framework.&quot;&nbsp;Meta has denied any damage or violation of EU rules, saying in a statement sent to AFP the AMI lawsuit &quot;is not based on any evidence regarding the alleged harm.&quot;&nbsp;AMI is &quot;deliberately ignoring the evolution of the advertising industry over the past few years,&quot; Meta added.&nbsp;&quot;Meta complies with all applicable laws and has provided clear options, transparent information, and a wide range of tools for users to control their experience on our services.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#39;Huge investment&#39;&nbsp;&nbsp;Meta executives told Wednesday&#39;s hearing that user data mattered less than algorithms to generate the personalized advertising.&nbsp;&quot;We have invested a huge amount&quot; so that advertising reaches the consumer, unlike traditional media, said Beltran Seoane of Facebook Spain, responsible for relations with advertising agencies.&nbsp;Tools developed by Meta &quot;are just as important or more so than the data per se&quot;, added Facebook representative David Saez.&nbsp;Expert reports and closing arguments are expected on Thursday.&nbsp;Media groups represented by AMI include Prisa, owner of Spain&#39;s top-selling daily newspaper El Pais; Godo, publisher of the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia; Vocento, which publishes the conservative daily ABC; and Unidad Editorial, whose titles include El Mundo and sports daily Marca.&nbsp;Spanish radio and television stations have launched a separate lawsuit against Meta for the same reasons, seeking 160 million euros in damages.&nbsp;A similar lawsuit has also emerged in France, where around 200 media groups, including major television networks and leading newspapers, filed legal action against Meta in April.

Meta faces a €550m trial in Spain after 80+ media outlets accused it of unfair competition and breaching EU data rules in ad sales. Meta denies wrongdoing, citing compliance, transparency, and evolving advertising industry practices.


Articles tagged with "META"

EU accuses Meta, TikTok of breaking digital content rules

Instagram says it's safeguarding teens by limiting them to PG-13 content

Meta defends ads model in 550-mn-euro data protection trial