EU Commission opens probe into Snapchat over suspected child protection failings

Eva Osborne

The European Commission has opened a probe into online messaging platform Snapchat over suspected child protection failings.

The investigation will look into five different areas of the company:

• Age assurance;
• Grooming and recruitment of minors for criminal activities;
• Inadequate default account settings;
• Dissemination of information on the sale of prohibited products;
• Reporting of illegal content.

The EU Commission announced the investigation on Thursday afternoon, with its Deputy Tech Chief saying Snapchat "appears to have overlooked that the EU’s Digital Services Act demands high safety standards for all users".

It follows news from the US that a Los Angeles jury found Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O and Meta Platforms META.O liable in a youth social media addiction trial.

The EU Commission said Snapchat may have breached the Digital Services Act by exposing minors to grooming attempts and recruitment for criminal purposes, as well as to information about the sale of illegal goods, like drugs, or age-restricted products, such as vapes and alcohol.

The Commission said it will now carry out an in-depth investigation, involving gathering further evidence, for example by sending requests for information to Snapchat and conducting interviews or inspections.

The opening of formal proceedings empowers the Commission to take further enforcement steps, such as adopting interim measures and a non-compliance decision, it said.

The Commission said it is also empowered to accept commitments from Snapchat to remedy issue raised in the proceedings.