Eleven Facebook accounts linked to EU-sanctioned actors allegedly kept access to monetisation tools. Meta now faces accusations that it ignored repeated warnings about them.

Internet rights group WHAT TO FIX filed a complaint against Meta with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), the Dutch Digital Services Coordinator. The organisation argues that Meta may have failed to properly enforce its monetisation rules and provide effective ways to report and challenge potentially illegal activity. It says the problems may amount to breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

“Platforms should not be able to treat monetisation as a regulatory blind spot,” Victoire Rio, executive director of WHAT TO FIX, said. “When provided with credible evidence that suggests that accounts linked to sanctioned actors may be accessing tools that create earning rights or financial benefits, Meta has a responsibility to investigate promptly, enforce consistently and explain its decisions.”

A year of warnings over sanctioned accounts

The complaint follows more than a year of attempts by WHAT TO FIX to alert Meta to accounts linked to EU-sanctioned actors that appeared to retain access to Facebook monetisation tools. The organisation raised concerns through public investigations, press inquiries, direct emails to Meta executives, Facebook reporting tools, internal complaints and formal DSA notices. WHAT TO FIX says Meta did not consistently acknowledge, investigate or act on those reports.

Its most recent investigation identified 11 Facebook accounts linked to sanctioned individuals or entities. Access to monetisation programmes does not prove that an account actually received money. But the programmes can create earning opportunities or other financial benefits.

WHAT TO FIX says it also encountered problems when trying to report the cases. “We spent more than a year trying to raise a serious legal concern through Meta’s available channels,” Rio said. “Instead of a clear route to the appropriate compliance team, we encountered unsuitable forms, automated responses and disconnected processes that appeared unable to handle monetisation escalations.”

The group is now asking ACM to investigate whether Meta’s systems comply with the DSA and to require changes to its enforcement, reporting and complaint procedures. “This is not only about eleven accounts, it is about whether one of the world’s largest platforms has adequate safeguards for monetisation-related legal risks,” policy manager Belén Luna Sanz said. “Monetisation is part of a platform’s core infrastructure, not an add-on.”

Meta already under DSA scrutiny

The complaint comes as Meta faces several DSA investigations. In October 2025, the European Commission preliminarily found that Facebook and Instagram failed to provide sufficiently simple systems for reporting illegal content and challenging moderation decisions.

In 2026, the Commission also issued preliminary findings against Meta over children under 13 accessing Facebook and Instagram and the addictive design of the services.

DSA breaches can carry substantial penalties. Breaching the law led the Commission to fine X €120 million and AliExpress €550 million.