Meta ordered the EU to change the “addictive design” of Instagram and Facebook
European Union regulators told Meta on Friday to make major design changes to Instagram and Facebook to make the services less addictive or risk heavy fines.
Regulators in Brussels said the “addictive design” of the two Meta social media services violated European Union law and that features such as “infinite scrolling” and auto-play videos should be removed. The tech giant should also introduce new “screen breaks” and adjust its recommendation algorithm to be “less engagement-oriented”, the authorities said.
The commission’s findings are preliminary and Meta now has time to respond to the allegations before a final verdict is issued. The fine could reach up to 6 percent of Meta’s global revenue, although regulators rarely impose penalties of that amount.
The ruling is an unusually direct effort to force specific changes to the product’s design. It is the latest sign of an aggressive approach by European regulators to confront social media companies over what are seen as deliberate subversive efforts to attract users, especially children. In February, EU authorities accused TikTok of using similar design tricks to keep users coming back again and again.
Ben Walters, a spokesman for Meta, said the company disagrees with the findings, which “do not accurately reflect the significant steps we have taken to protect adolescents.” He said the company has introduced teen accounts that allow parents to block access to Instagram at night and limit screen time during the day.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation bloc, is also considering rules that could ban children from accessing social media because of the apps’ addictive features – following Australia’s lead.
Aggressive European regulation of the tech industry has drawn criticism from President Trump, who sees it as an attack on American companies.
In Brussels, officials said they were considering where to draw the line between a well-designed app that users enjoy and one that is harmfully addictive. The European Union, home to roughly 450 million people, is one of the world’s biggest markets for social media, but authorities there are increasingly skeptical of the way the companies operate.
On Friday, European regulators concluded that Meta had gone too far. The company was accused of violating the Digital Services Act of 2022 by using design tactics to keep users, especially teenagers, on Instagram and Facebook.
The authorities said that features such as personalized recommendations and endless scrolling, which constantly provide new content, “stimulate the user’s urge to keep scrolling and put the brain into autopilot mode.”
These characteristics lead to “unhealthy habits and compulsive use,” authorities added.
Regulators said Meta failed to adequately assess the risks of its products, including ignoring information about how much time users under 18 spent on Instagram and Facebook at night. At the same time, features like reels and stories led to “excessive or compulsive” use of the services, authorities said.
Meta’s existing time-management tools can be easily bypassed by younger users, and its parental controls are only effective if parents are tech-savvy and can devote enough time to monitoring, regulators said.
“Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice-president overseeing digital policy, said in a statement. “The Digital Services Act provides a clear framework for holding platforms accountable for the addictive design and effects of their services. We are fully committed to enforcing our legislation in Europe.”
Jeanna Smialek contributed reporting from Brussels.