Digging deep on child safety, EU launches probe into Snapchat, YouTube and app stores

BRUSSELS (CN) — European regulators are asking some pointed questions of the biggest U.S. tech companies: What are you actually doing to keep kids safe online?

The European Commission — the EU’s executive branch — opened its first formal investigation Friday into how Snapchat, YouTube, Apple’s App Store and Google Play protect children on their platforms. It’s the opening salvo in what could become a much broader crackdown on how tech companies handle underage users across the 27-nation bloc.

The investigation focuses on whether these platforms adequately verify users’ ages and prevent minors from accessing illegal products — like vapes and drugs — or harmful content promoting eating disorders.

“We will do what it takes to ensure the physical and mental well-being of children and teens online,” said Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty. “Platforms have the obligation to ensure minors are safe on their services.”

Virkkunen said the EU has “the strongest legal framework globally when it comes to protection of minors” and expects to conclude many of the commission’s 14 ongoing platform investigations “in the coming weeks and months,” some of which have been running for over a year.

The probe follows digital safety guidelines the EU adopted in July, which lay out what regulators think platforms should be doing — like making minors’ accounts private by default, turning off addictive features like “streaks” and autoplay and blocking people from taking screenshots of content posted by kids to prevent sexual extortion.

Now, European officials are checking whether companies are following through. They want Snapchat to explain how it keeps kids under 13 off the app — something the company’s own rules are supposed to prohibit — and how it stops minors from buying illegal products through its service.

YouTube is being asked about its recommendation algorithm, which critics say has been pushing harmful content to young users, including videos that promote eating disorders. The company will need to provide detailed information about both its age verification system and how it decides what videos to show to different users.

Apple and Google are facing scrutiny over their app stores, which European regulators say may be allowing minors to download gambling apps and disturbing tools that create fake nude images of people without their consent — known as “nudify apps.” Brussels wants to know how the companies rate apps for age-appropriateness and what stops kids from downloading apps meant only for adults.

This isn’t the first time European regulators have come knocking. All four companies were designated as “Very Large Online Platforms” under the Digital Services Act in 2023— a label given to platforms with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU — subjecting them to stricter oversight.

YouTube has 416.6 million monthly users across the EU, Google Play has 284.6 million, Apple App Store has 123 million and Snapchat has 102 million, per commission data.

The EU executive has probed these platforms before, but Friday’s investigation is the first to specifically target child safety measures under the guidelines adopted in July. Brussels is also conducting separate ongoing investigations into TikTok, Facebook and Instagram over DSA violations, including child safety concerns. The platforms operate in the 27-country bloc through European subsidiaries — Snapchat in the Netherlands and YouTube, Google Play and Apple App Store in Ireland.

And the questions aren’t just coming from Brussels. National regulators across Europe are working together to figure out which platforms are most dangerous for kids and to make sure enforcement doesn’t vary wildly from one country to the next.

Beyond the guidelines, European officials are building something more concrete: a bloc-wide age verification system that uses passports and national ID cards to confirm how old someone is.

The system, which got an updated release Friday, is designed to let users prove they’re over 18 when trying to access restricted content like pornography or gambling — without handing over their name, exact age or any other personal details. Five countries are testing the pilot: Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain, with the first apps expected to go live in early 2026.

Individual EU countries are also considering their own age restrictions for social media access, though Virkkunen said Friday that “nobody has made the decision yet” on national age limits. She acknowledged that different member states have “different cultures” and discussions are ongoing about setting minimum ages for social media use.

The EU itself lacks clear legal authority to impose a bloc-wide minimum age for social media. The DSA “is not the legal basis that will allow us to set the minimum age” for social media platforms, leaving such decisions to individual countries, according to the commission.

For U.S. tech companies, the investigation is another reminder that Europe has become the world’s most aggressive regulator of digital platforms.

While U.S. lawmakers have struggled for years to pass comprehensive online safety legislation for children, the EU has built an enforcement framework that allows it to demand answers — and impose significant financial penalties — from the world’s biggest platforms. Under the DSA, companies found in violation can face fines of up to 6% of their global annual revenue.

For a company like Google, which reported revenues of over $300 billion in 2023, that could mean billions in penalties.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, is assembling an advisory panel to help shape the EU’s long-term approach to children on social media, signaling that Friday’s investigation is just the beginning of a sustained focus on the issue. The body will examine approaches from other countries, including Australia’s recent legislation and the U.K.’s regulatory framework, a commission spokesperson said Friday.

The investigation comes as EU member states also move to strengthen child safety online. On Friday, 25 out of 27 EU countries signed the Jutland Declaration, a Danish-led initiative calling for mandatory age verification across social media platforms and EU-wide regulation of addictive features and manipulative design. Non-EU members Norway and Iceland also backed the declaration.

Danish Digital Minister Caroline Stage Olsen called the level of support unprecedented. “That has never happened before,” she said, referring to the broad consensus on age verification.

Belgium and Estonia did not sign, though both said they remain committed to child protection goals. Estonia said it prioritized “critical thinking” over social media access restrictions and questioned “measures that risk privacy and social exclusion.”

Under European law, platforms must either follow the commission’s protection guidelines or demonstrate that they’ve implemented equally effective safety measures.

The commission could also designate additional platforms as “Very Large Online Platforms” subject to stricter oversight. The next evaluation deadline is November, when regulators will review whether any platforms have crossed the threshold of 45 million monthly EU users — about 10% of the bloc’s population.

Courthouse News correspondent Yuval Molina is based in Brussels, Belgium.