EU tells Meta to change ‘addictive’ design features on Facebook, Instagram – National
The European Union accused Meta on Friday of violating its social media law by designing Facebook and Instagram to lure users, and demanded it disable “key addictive features” such as endless scrolling.
The EU’s top official has issued a set of new charges against Meta Platforms as part of its investigation under the 27-nation digital regulation known as the Digital Services Act. A full set of rules from Brussels requires technical platforms to protect internet users under the threat of heavy fines.
The European Commission said that Meta failed to properly assess the risks of its formulation to the physical and mental health of users, including minors. And while the company has tools and controls to help manage the use of Facebook and Instagram, it said they are easily scripted, overridden, or technically challenging to use.
Meta “needs to make design changes” to Instagram and Facebook, such as disabling “key addictive features” such as video autoplay and infinite scrolling so they don’t open automatically, the commission said in its initial findings.
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Meta now has a chance to defend itself and defend itself before the commission issues its final decision, which could lead to fines of up to six percent of the company’s annual worldwide revenue.
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Meta said on Friday that the initial findings do not show the steps the company has taken to protect the youth.
“Since this investigation began, we’ve rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control — allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and limit daily screen time to just 15 minutes,” Meta said in a prepared statement.
“We share the European Commission’s commitment to providing young people with a safe, positive online experience and will continue to engage with them in a positive way.”
Europe is committed to enforcing its law that makes platforms accountable for addictive design features, said Henna Virkkunen, senior vice president at the technology oversight commission.
“Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media,” Virkkunen said in a written statement.
Design features of Facebook and Instagram, including personalized recommendations and push notifications, provide endless content, put users’ brains on “autopilot” and fuel compulsive use, the commission said.
Meanwhile, screen time controls that parents can enforce on their teenagers’ devices can be “easily overruled” and not result in meaningful reductions in usage, the commission said. And the controls underestimate the technical expertise, time and effort that parents need to understand and use, it said.
The commission’s proposed structural changes also included finding better ways to encourage breaks from screen time, and changing the content recommendation system to be less “engagement-centric.”
The first findings are the latest cases since Brussels opened its own investigation in 2024 over concerns that the social media giant was not doing enough to protect children online.
The EU said earlier this year that Meta failed to prevent children under the age of 13, which is the company’s minimum age to use Facebook and Instagram, from registering. It also said that Meta does not do enough to identify and remove young users after they open accounts.
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