The European Union has preliminarily found Meta in breach of the bloc’s legislation, designed to increase accountability among the world’s largest online platforms, for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook.
The European Commission said in a July 9 statement that Meta did not “adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults.”
The commission’s two-year investigation found that features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and personalized recommendations encourage people to spend more time on Instagram and Facebook, increasing the risk of unhealthy and addictive use.
“These features fuel the user’s urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into ‘autopilot mode', contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use,” the commission said.
The commission also said Meta overlooked evidence about the time minors spend on Instagram and Facebook at night and failed to assess how products such as Reels and Stories could encourage excessive use.
Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for the commission’s Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, said protecting users’ wellbeing must take precedence over engagement-driven platform design.
“The Digital Services Act provides a clear framework to hold platforms accountable for the addictive design and effects of their services,” she said in a statement. “We are fully committed to enforcing our legislation in Europe.”
Meta could face fines of up to 6 percent of its annual global revenue unless it changes the design of the two platforms.
The Epoch Times reached out to Meta for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Existing Safeguards Found Inadequate
The European Commission also concluded that Meta’s existing measures to limit excessive use do not sufficiently reduce the risks associated with its platforms.
It said Instagram’s and Facebook’s screen time management tools, including those automatically enabled for teenagers, can be easily dismissed and do not meaningfully reduce time spent on the services.
The commission also questioned the effectiveness of Meta’s parental controls, saying they require parents and guardians to possess significant technical knowledge and devote substantial time to understanding how they work.
Regulators further said Meta’s awareness campaigns, including safety tips and links to mental health resources available through its Safety Center, were insufficient to address risks created by the platforms’ underlying design.
“Meta needs to implement design changes to both Instagram and Facebook,” the commission said. “For instance, by disabling key addictive features such as ‘autoplay’ and ‘infinite scroll' by default, implementing effective ‘screen time breaks’, and adapting its recommender system to make it less engagement-oriented.”
Meta now has the opportunity to review the evidence, submit a written response, and exercise its rights of defense before any final decision is adopted.
Meta said the state attorneys general had not shown that it misled users about whether its platforms are addictive, arguing that “social media addiction” is not a medically recognized psychiatric diagnosis.
Meta disclosed the amount in a court filing on July 6, a week after a federal judge refused to dismiss the claims before trial. The case is set to go to trial before a jury on Aug. 18 in Oakland, California.
