Meta has been warned by the European Commission that its endless-scrolling Facebook and Instagram feeds could breach new rules under the EU’s Digital Services Act.
In its preliminary findings released Friday, the Commission said its investigation into features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalized recommendation systems found that Meta “failed to adequately assess the risks of their addictive design on the physical and mental well-being of users, including minors and vulnerable adults.”
Extract from the press release:
These features fuel the user’s urge to keep scrolling and put the brain into “autopilot mode,” contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use.
Additionally, Meta did not take into account available information about how much time minors spend at night on Instagram or Facebook and how optimizing its various formats – such as Reels and Stories – could lead to excessive or compulsive use of the services.
The Commission also criticized Meta’s risk mitigation measures, saying the platforms’ time management tools could be easily sidelined and do not meaningfully limit the time users spend on the services. She also criticized Meta’s parental controls, which the Commission said are “only effective if parents and guardians have adequate technical expertise, and devote effort and time to understand them.”
The Commission said that at this stage of its investigation, it believes that Meta needs to make changes to the design of Instagram and Facebook. These could include turning off addictive features like autoplay and infinite scrolling by default, introducing effective screen time breaks, and changing its recommendation system to make it less focused on driving engagement.
Meta said Friday that she disagreed with the commission’s findings, saying they “do not accurately account for the important steps we have taken to protect adolescents.”
The Commission stated that Meta now had the opportunity to exercise his right of defense by reviewing the documents in the investigation file and responding in writing to his preliminary findings. If these provisional findings are confirmed, the company could be fined up to 6% of its global annual turnover.
