European Commission reviews child safety on Snapchat, YouTube, app stores

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission is scrutinising safeguards for minors on Snapchat, YouTube, the Apple App Store and Google Play under its Digital Services Act (DSA), it said on Friday.

The Commission is asking the businesses to provide information on their age verification systems, as well as on how they prevent minors from accessing illegal products, including drugs and vapes, or harmful material, such as contents promoting eating disorders.

"Today, alongside national authorities in the member states, we are assessing whether the measures taken so far by the platforms are indeed protecting children," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said.

Google in a response said it had already put in place measures to ensure its platforms offered age appropriate experiences and had "robust" controls for parents.

"We keep expanding these efforts (and) continue to engage with the Commission on this critical area," a Google spokesperson said.

The DSA is an EU landmark law that requires online companies to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Bart Meijer. Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Mark Potter and Inti Landauro)

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