A woman talks through an iPhone at the Berlaymont building， headquarters of the European Commission， in Brussels， Belgium， on March 4， 2024.  (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)

Facebook and Instagram have previously faced EU scrutiny over election disinformation in a case opened in late April神秘博士第八季， ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.

BRUSSELS， May 16 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Thursday launched formal proceedings against American tech giant Meta's Facebook and Instagram， over concerns about child safety.

"The Commission is concerned that the systems of both Facebook and Instagram， including their algorithms， may stimulate behavioral addictions in children，" said the European Commission in a statement.

 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee during an Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.， the United States， on Oct. 23， 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The investigation will also examine Meta's age-assurance and verification methods， the Commission added.

The probe is being conducted under the European Union's (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA)， which came into effect last year. The DSA obliges tech companies to do more to counter illegal content and mitigate risks such as disinformation or election manipulation on their platforms. Companies violating the DSA can face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual global turnover.

 A 5G-A logo is seen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 in Barcelona， Spain， Feb. 29， 2024. The 2024 edition of MWC concluded on Thursday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

Facebook and Instagram have previously faced EU scrutiny over election disinformation in a case opened in late April， ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.  ■