Summary
The European Commission said on Thursday it has opened an investigation under the Digital Services Act (DSA) into Snapchat, raising doubts that the platform has adequate protections to stop child grooming and to prevent the spread of information about illegal or age-restricted goods. The probe signals the EU's intent to enforce the DSA's requirements on large online services to limit illegal and harmful content.
Regulatory action and scope
The probe falls under the DSA, the bloc's new regulatory regime that compels large online platforms to adopt measures to detect, remove or mitigate illegal and harmful content, with potential fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for serious breaches. EU technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen commented that Snapchat appears to have failed to meet the DSA's expectations for user safety, saying: "From grooming and exposure to illegal products to account settings that undermine minors’ safety, Snapchat appears to have overlooked that the Digital Services Act demands high safety standards for all users."
Allegations and evidence cited
The Commission said it suspects Snapchat lacks sufficient safeguards to stop children from being contacted by users who may be seeking to sexually exploit them or to recruit them for criminal activity. It also flagged that Snapchat’s content moderation tools are not preventing the dissemination of information that directs users to vendors of illegal goods, including drugs, as well as age-restricted items such as vapes and alcohol.
Concurrent investigations and specific concerns
As part of the action, the Commission will take over an investigation by Dutch authorities that began last September into the sale of vapes to children on Snapchat. Regulators also identified other areas of concern: Snapchat’s self-declaration age assurance tool is considered insufficient; default account settings were judged inadequate to protect minors; and mechanisms for users to report so-called dark patterns in the platform’s design were found lacking.
Commercial context quoted in the original report
The report also included material describing a third-party AI stock screening tool. That material stated that ProPicks AI evaluates SNAP alongside thousands of other companies using over 100 financial metrics, and that the AI identifies stocks offering favorable risk-reward profiles based on current data. The same material cited past winners such as Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%), and invited readers to check whether SNAP features in any ProPicks AI strategies.
Next steps
The Commission, tasked with enforcing the DSA, will proceed with its formal inquiry into Snapchat’s compliance. The investigation will examine the effectiveness of Snapchat’s age verification, default privacy settings for minors, reporting channels, and content moderation systems relative to the obligations set by the DSA.