Accusations that Meta targeted depressed teens with its online ads mark a “troubling pattern”, for the social media giant, MEP Christel Schaldemose told Euractiv, as the platform faces a probe over its treatment of minors by the Commission.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, who used to work on public policy at Facebook, told US lawmakers last week that Meta targeted adverts at 13- 17-year-olds when they were feeling down or depressed.
The platform was informing advertisers when the teens were depressed so they could be served with an ad, she said.
Schaldemose, who will lead the Parliament’s internal market committee report on protecting minors online, said that she was “appalled” by Wynn-Williams’ testimony and its implication that the company was compromising ethical standards in the pursuit of market access.
“Her testimony once again illustrates this troubling pattern and leaves me deeply sceptical about the willingness of companies like Meta to comply with even the most basic safeguards,” Schaldemose said.
Meta has denied Wynn-Williams’ claims and said that the testimony was “divorced from reality” and “riddled with false claims”.
Nevertheless, the EU has been ramping up pressure on online platforms to better protect minors. The Commission is finalising guidelines under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to advise all platforms on safeguarding young users online.
Parliament’s IMCO committee is preparing a report on the issue, led by Schaldemose, a Danish socialist lawmaker.
This week, EU health ministers called on the Commission to launch an inquiry into excessive screen time amongst minors and asked the platforms to take responsibility for child-targeted content.
IMCO lawmaker Laura Ballarin Cereza (S&D) said that if the allegations against Meta were proven true, it would be shocking to discover that the company had designed a platform to target minors who suffered from depression or negative thoughts.
She said that she would follow the conclusions of these investigations “very closely”. “It is the moment to send a strong message to online platforms that have been making money at the expense of the suffering of minors,” she added.
Commission DSA probes against Meta
The Commission has been investigating Meta over issues linked to the protection of minors since May. When asked whether Wynn-Williams’ testimony would influence the ongoing investigation, the Commission did not respond.
A spokesperson said that they were unable to comment on the scope and evidence of the investigation since it was still ongoing.
The Commission also did not directly respond to whether the testimony could lead to a new DSA breach under its ongoing investigations.
The Commission is currently examining Meta’s practices related to the protection of minors, such as addictive behaviours that may exploit the vulnerabilities and inexperience of minors and reinforce a ‘rabbit-hole’ effect.
The Commission is also investigating Meta’s age-verification tools and the privacy controls it has in place for minors.
Under the DSA, targeted advertising to minors has been banned, and Meta has stopped this practice since November 2023. The platform has nevertheless said it would continue to evaluate the impact of the regulation internally, and the ban was imposed temporarily.
The platform recently rolled out Teen Accounts, which limit contacts and the type of content to which under-17s are exposed. Meta is also pushing for limits on the usage of its app at night and during school hours through these rollouts.
MEP Alex Aguis Saliba (S&D) also said that Wynn-Williams’ testimony shows that “we were right to ban the targetted advertisement of minors in the Digital Services Act.”
“We need to go further in protecting all of our citizens against personal profiling and addictive designs of the platforms in the upcoming Digital Fairness Act,” he added.
(jp, aw)