Facebook social media – Image by Biljana Jovanovic from Pixabay
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission sent American tech giant Meta a formal request Friday to provide more information under the Digital Services Act over subscription for no ads options for both Facebook and Instagram.
Specifically, the EU executive wants Meta to provide additional information on measures it has taken to comply with its obligations concerning Facebook and Instagram’s advertising practices, recommender systems and risk assessments related to the introduction of the subscription option.
The ‘request for information’ (RFI) also addresses some topics already included in RFIs sent to Meta since October 2023. These covered issues such as terrorist content, risk management related to civic discourse and election processes, and the protection of minors. The latest RFI asks additional information concerning the methodology underlying Meta’s risk assessment and mitigation measures reports, protection of minors, elections and manipulated media. The RFI also asks Meta to provide information related to the practice of so-called ‘shadow banning# and the launch of Threads.
Meta must provide the requested information that builds on Meta’s previous replies to the Commission by 15 March and to the remaining questions by 22 March 2024. The Commission will decide on its next steps based on assessment of Meta’s replies. This could entail the formal opening of proceedings pursuant to Article 66 of the DSA.
Pursuant to Article 74 (2) of the DSA, the Commission can impose fines for incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information in response to a request for information. In case of failure to reply by Meta, the Commission may decide to request the information by decision. In this case, failure to reply by the deadline could lead to the imposition of periodic penalty payments.
Digital Services Act (DSA) Regulation
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