EU demands Facebook and Instagram dismantle design features it calls addictive
The European Union has accused Meta of breaching its social media law by designing Facebook and Instagram to get users hooked, and demanded it disable “key addictive features” such as infinite scrolling.
The EU’s executive arm issued a fresh set of charges against Meta Platforms as part of its investigation under the 27-nation bloc’s strict digital rule book known as the Digital Services Act.
The sweeping set of regulations from Brussels requires tech platforms to protect internet users under threat of hefty fines.
The European Commission said Meta failed to properly assess the risks its design features pose to the physical and mental health of users, including minors.
And while the company has tools and controls to help manage Facebook and Instagram use, it said they were easily overridden, dismissed, or were technically challenging to use.
Meta “needs to implement design changes” to Instagram and Facebook, such as disabling “key addictive features” such as autoplay of videos and infinite scroll so they are not turned on by default, the commission said in its preliminary findings.
Meta now has the chance to respond and defend itself before the commission issues its final decision, which could result in a fine worth up to 6% of the company’s global annual revenue.
Meta said on Friday that the preliminary findings do not recognise the steps that the company has already taken to protect teenagers.
“Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control – allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes,” Meta said in a prepared statement.
“We share the European Commission’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive online experiences and will continue to engage constructively with them.”
Europe is committed to enforcing its legislation that holds platforms accountable for addictive design features, Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice-president at the commission overseeing tech, said.
“Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” Ms Virkkunen said in a written statement.
Facebook and Instagram design features, including personalised recommendations and push notifications, serve up an endless stream of content, putting users’ brains on “autopilot” and fuelling compulsive use, the commission said.
Meanwhile, screen time controls that parents can impose on their teenagers’ devices can be “easily dismissed” and do not result in a meaningful reduction of use, the commission said.
And the controls are undermined by the technical expertise, time and effort that parents need to understand and use them, it said.
The commission’s proposed design changes also included finding better ways to encourage screen time breaks, and changing the content recommendation system so that it is less “engagement-oriented”.
The preliminary findings are the latest charges since Brussels opened its investigation in 2024 over concerns that the social media giant was not doing enough to protect children online.
Earlier this year, the EU said its investigation found that Meta failed to stop children under 13 — the minimum age for Facebook and Instagram — from signing up, and not doing enough to identify and remove underage users after they had opened accounts.
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