Meta ‘constantly innovating’ to tackle risks to underage users, committee told

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

Meta has “fundamentally changed” how teenagers use Instagram and Facebook, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

The tech giant’s director of public policy in Ireland said it is “constantly” innovating in response to risks to underage users.

During a hearing on online safety at the Oireachtas Committee on Children, Dualta O Broin told members: “We fundamentally changed the approach for how teens use our services.”

He said this includes the use of “teen accounts,” which restrict what type of content appears on a feed, and additional steps for parents to limit material further.

Earlier this week, media regulator Coimisiún na Meán launched investigations into Meta over recommender algorithms on Facebook and Instagram.

Last month, the European Commission said Instagram and Facebook, which are owned by Meta, were in breach of the EU Digital Services Act for “failing to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of minors under 13 years old accessing their services”.

Following reviews by the commission’s platform supervision team, concerns arose in relation to potential “dark patterns”, or manipulative and deceptive interface designs, which may prevent people from exercising their right to choose a recommender system feed that is not based on profiling.

A recommender system feed is a style of curation where content is not shown chronologically, but is instead curated using profile data such as past activity, such as watch time, time of day, location, and behaviour of similar users.

Profiling is the use of automated systems to personalise content or ads based on patterns in a person’s data or behaviour.

Earlier this week, Meta announced it was strengthening “underage enforcement measures” by using AI to remove people under 13 from its services.

Mr O Broin said the company’s services are subject to regulation by multiple regulators to meet requirements in relation to the Digital Services Act (DSA) – including risks to underage users.

He said “ongoing oversight is happening all the time”, adding: “We’re constantly sort of innovating into how to improve the environment.”

If a platform is found in violation of the DSA, Coimisiún na Meán can apply an administrative financial sanction, including a fine of up to 6 per cent of turnover.

The Committee also heard from representatives from TikTok, Snap, Google and Microsoft.