The European Commission is demanding information from U.S. platforms Apple, Snapchat, Google, and YouTube over allegations of insufficient child protection, European Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said on Friday.

European Union legislation “clearly says that when minors are using online services, very high levels of privacy, security, and safety have to be ensured,” Ms Virkkunen said.

“This is not always the case,” she added, as she arrived at a meeting of EU ministers in charge of telecommunications in the Danish city of Horsens.

Officials seek the information to assess measures taken by Snapchat, YouTube, Apple Store, and Google Play to protect minors and comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the commissioner said.

Should the commission continue to suspect an infringement of the DSA after assessing the information, it may open formal proceedings.

If the commission establishes a breach of EU rules, it can impose fines of up to six per cent of global turnover.

The commission suspects that age restrictions for children and young people are too easy to circumvent on the video platform YouTube, which is part of the Google group.

Additionally, it seeks to establish how far YouTube’s algorithms could make children addicted.

The commission aims to clarify whether minors can access gambling games, such as apps for online casinos, through the Apple Store and Google Play platforms.

Regarding Snapchat, the commission suspects that minors may be able to buy drugs on the social network and that the company is not complying with its own age limits, which bar children under the age of 13 from using the app.

In July, the commission published guidelines on child protection to help companies comply with the DSA.

“The online world is a very important part of our everyday life,” Ms Virkkunen said. “Kids also have the right to access information and to be in contact with their friends.”

Online services, however, have the responsibility to make sure that minors are safe, she said.

The DSA obliges platforms to swiftly remove illegal content from their sites and to offer users the possibility of reporting such content; large services have to follow stricter rules than smaller ones.

The law has also caused tensions between the EU and the United States, with U.S. President Donald Trump criticising EU legislation as anti-competitive. 

(dpa/NAN)