European Union, EU, regulators have opened a formal investigation into Meta over potential breaches of online content rules relating to child safety in its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The European Commission on Thursday said it was concerned that the algorithmic systems used by popular social media platforms to recommend videos and posts could “exploit the weaknesses and inexperience” of children and stimulate “addictive behaviour”.

The bloc’s executive arm in a statement said it is also concerned about age assurance and verification methods put in place by Meta.

According to the statement, the investigation is being conducted under the Digital Services Act, DSA, a law that compels the world’s largest tech firms to enhance their efforts in protecting European users online.

The EU’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, said on X that the regulators were “not convinced that Meta has done enough to comply with the DSA obligations – to mitigate the risks of negative effects to the physical and mental health of young Europeans on its platforms Facebook and Instagram”.

“We want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them,” the statement read.