The European Commission has formally sent Meta a request for information (RFI) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission is requesting Meta to provide more information related to the Subscription for no Ads options for both Facebook and Instagram.
In particular, Meta should provide additional information on the measures it has taken to comply with its obligations concerning Facebook and Instagram's advertising practices, recommender systems and risk assessments related to the introduction of that subscription option.
The RFI builds on Meta’s replies to previous RFIs and asks additional information concerning the methodology underlying Meta's risk assessment and mitigation measures reports, the protection of minors, elections and manipulated media. It also requests Meta to provide information related to the practice of so-called shadow banning (blocking a user or his content without him knowing so) and the launch of Threads.
Meta must provide the requested information built on their previous replies by 15 March and answer to the remaining questions by 22 March 2024. In case of failure to reply by the deadline, Meta could be imposed periodic penalty payments.
What is the Digital Services Act (DSA)?
The main objective of the DSA is to ensure a safe and responsible online environment. It thus imposes rules on online intermediary services with additional specific obligations for very large online platforms reaching more than 10 % of the 450 million consumers in Europe:
- Risk management and crisis response obligations;
- External and independent audit, internal compliance audit function and public accountability;
- Choice of users not to have recommendations based on profiling;
- Sharing data with authorities and researchers;
- Codes of conduct;
- Cooperation in crisis response.