Snap shares plunge as EU opens probe into possible DSA violations
The European Commission said that it has opened a formal investigation into whether Snap, Inc.'s (SNAP) Snapchat app violated the Digital Services Act (DSA) by exposing minors to grooming attempts and recruitment for criminal purposes.
The Commission is also looking into whether minors were exposed on Snapchat to the sell of illegal goods like drugs, or age-restricted products like alcohol and vapes.
The European Union's (EU) DSA requires tech's biggest online platforms to ensure the privacy, safety and security for minors. The Commission said that it opened its investigation based on risk assessment reports on Snapchat from 2023, 2024 and 2025, as well as replies to a request for information sent in October.
SNAP shares sank 10.7% on Thursday.
The Commission's investigation will be focused on five areas: age assurance, grooming and recruitment of minors for illegal activities, inadequate default account settings, dissemination of information on the sale of prohibited products, and reporting of illegal content.
Companies found liable for violating the DSA face fines that can reach as high as 6% of their global annual sales.
The Commission's recommended guidelines for how tech platforms can protect minors include the stipulation that "self-declaration" should not be considered a reliable assurance of a user's age.
Snapchat requires that users be 13 years old to use its app, but regulators are questioning whether it did enough to ensure that all of its users were actually old enough to access it.
"The Commission suspects that Snapchat's reliance on self-declaration as an age assurance measure is insufficient," the agency said. "It neither prevents children under the age of 13 from accessing the service, nor adequately assesses whether users are younger than 17 years old, which is necessary to ensure an age-appropriate experience."
The DSA was established by the EU, with the European Commission put in charge of enforcing it.
“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, executive vice president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy at the European Commission, said in a statement.
“With this investigation, we will closely look into their compliance with our legislation.”
This is not the first time that Snapchat has found itself in the crosshairs of regulators.
Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxon filed a lawsuit against Snap last month, alleging that the company has failed to warn parents and consumers about Snapchat's "inappropriate material on the platform and the app's addictive design."
Paxon accused Snapchat's creators of having "knowingly misrepresented" the safety of the platform by claiming in app stores that it was safe for children aged 12 and older.
"This was done while simultaneously frequently exposing users to dangerous and mature content that includes profanity, sexual content, nudity, and drug use," the Texas attorney general's office said in a statement.
The European Commission said that opening a formal investigation empowers it to take further enforcement steps, including adopting interim measures and a non-compliance decision.
A spokesperson for Snapchat told Reuters that the company has “fully cooperated with the Commission to date - engaging proactively, transparently and working in good faith to meet the DSA’s high safety standards - and we will continue to do so throughout this investigation."