Facebook and Instagram face European Union scrutiny over possible breaches of digital rulebook

LONDON (AP) — The European Union said Tuesday that it's scrutinizing Facebook and Instagram over a range of suspected violations of the bloc's digital rulebook, including not doing enough to protect users from foreign disinformation ahead of EU-wide elections.

The EU's Executive Commission said it's opening formal proceedings into whether parent company Meta Platforms breached the Digital Services Act, a sweepting set of regulations designed to protect internet users and clean up social media platforms.

Brussels has been cracking down on tech companies since the DSA took effect last year, opening investigations into social media sites TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter, and ecommerce platform AliExpress. TikTok last week bowed to EU pressure last week and halted a reward feature on its new app after the Commission started demanding answerse about it.

“We have a well established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms," Meta said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work.”