European Commission Launches Formal Investigation into Snapchat Over Minor Safety

The European Commission opened a formal investigation into Snapchat on Thursday, March 26, 2026, under the Digital Services Act, citing concerns that the social messaging platform is failing to protect minors from grooming, sexual exploitation, and exposure to illegal products. The probe marks the Commission's first formal case against Snapchat. Regulators suspect that adults are misusing the platform by posing as minors to lure children into sexual exploitation and criminal activities. The Commission also found that Snapchat's content moderation tools are ineffective at preventing the spread of information pointing users toward illegal products such as drugs, or age-restricted products such as vapes and alcohol. Snapchat reports 94.7 (million) — monthly active users in the European Union, making it one of the most widely used platforms among teenagers in the bloc.

Five specific failings put Snapchat under the microscope The investigation covers five distinct areas of concern identified by EU regulators. First, Snapchat's self-declaration age assurance tool, which requires users to state they are at least 13 years old without any independent verification, was deemed insufficient by the Commission. Second, regulators flagged inadequate measures to prevent minors from being contacted by users with harmful intentions, including those seeking to exploit children sexually or recruit them for criminal activities. Third, the Commission questioned Snapchat's default account privacy settings, which regulators believe do not adequately protect younger users. Fourth, the probe examines the alleged dissemination of content promoting the sale of illegal products and age-restricted goods. Fifth, regulators identified problems with Snapchat's mechanisms for reporting illegal content and dark patterns in the platform's design, finding them insufficiently user-friendly. As part of the investigation, the Commission said it will take over a probe opened by Dutch regulators in September 2025 into the sale of illegal vapes to children on Snapchat. „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” — Henna Virkkunen via Reuters

Pornhub and three other adult sites face preliminary breach findings In a separate but related announcement on the same day, the Commission issued preliminary findings against four major pornographic websites — Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos — concluding that they had breached EU law by failing to prevent minors from accessing adult content. The Commission determined that the four platforms "did not diligently identify and assess the risks that their platforms pose to minors," according to The Guardian. The age verification mechanism used by all four sites consisted of a simple self-declaration button allowing users to confirm they were over 18, a system regulators deemed ineffective. The Commission's preliminary findings against the pornographic platforms follow an investigation launched in May 2025. Both the Snapchat probe and the preliminary findings against the adult sites were brought under the DSA, which has faced criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump since coming into force. Non-compliance with the DSA can result in fines of up to 6 (percent of global annual revenue) — maximum DSA fine for non-compliant platforms.

The Digital Services Act entered into force in 2022 and represents the EU's most significant overhaul of rules governing online platforms. The legislation requires large platforms to conduct risk assessments, implement content moderation systems, and provide transparency about algorithmic recommendations. The DSA's child safety provisions specifically target cyberbullying, exposure to adult content, and the promotion of illegal products. The Commission's action against Snapchat and the four adult sites comes as the EU is weighing whether to follow Australia in banning social media access for users under 16. A landmark ruling in a Los Angeles court also recently found that Meta and YouTube had deliberately created addictive products that harmed a young user, adding political momentum to regulatory efforts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Snapchat says safety is a top priority as EU scrutiny intensifies Snapchat responded to the investigation by defending its existing safety architecture. A company spokesperson said the safety and wellbeing of users was a top priority, and that the platform was designed to help people communicate with close friends and family in a positive, trusted environment. „Snapchat is designed to help people communicate with close friends and family in a positive, trusted environment, with privacy and safety built in from the start - including additional protections for teens. As online risks evolve, we continuously review, strengthen, and invest in these safeguards” — Snapchat spokesperson via The Guardian The Commission's formal investigation allows regulators to conduct a detailed examination and order the company to take preventative steps to protect children, even before any final decision is reached. Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, has positioned the Snapchat probe as part of a broader effort to enforce the DSA's child protection standards across major platforms. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets had already opened its own investigation into Snapchat in September 2025, which the Commission is now absorbing into the broader EU-level probe.