EU Commission Accuses Meta of Addictive Feeds on Facebook and Instagram
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The European Commission has warned US company Meta that the endlessly scrolling feeds on Facebook and Instagram may breach the EU’s rules for online platforms. In preliminary findings published on Friday, the authority concluded that Meta had failed to adequately assess and mitigate the risks of addictive design features — with potential consequences for users’ physical and mental wellbeing, particularly that of children and teenagers.
The Basis for the Criticism
The Commission points to several features it considers problematic. These include the automatic playback of videos (autoplay) and so-called infinite scrolling, in which new content is continuously loaded as users swipe onward, without any natural pause. The heavily personalised recommendations generated by the algorithms, along with notifications that repeatedly draw users back to the platforms, are also being criticised.
The Commission regards the existing time-management tools as inadequate. Time limits and break functions — including those aimed at teenagers — could be switched off too easily and did not lead to a meaningful reduction in usage. Other parental controls, it argues, only work if parents have sufficient technical knowledge and are willing to engage with them in depth.
What Meta Is Being Asked to Change
The Commission is calling for concrete adjustments to how both platforms operate. Among the proposals: disabling infinite scrolling and autoplay by default, introducing effective screen-time breaks, and adjusting the recommendation systems so that they are less strongly geared toward user interaction.
Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s tech chief, said protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for the platforms.
Meta rejected the findings. The company said the Commission did not adequately take into account the significant steps it had already taken to protect young people. Meta recently announced that it would expand its use of artificial intelligence to more rigorously verify the age of young users on Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Legal Framework and Possible Fine
The proceedings are based on the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires large platforms to identify and curb the systemic risks of their services. If the preliminary conclusions are confirmed, Meta faces a fine of up to six percent of its global annual turnover — which, in the company’s case, could amount to more than 12 billion euros. There is no deadline for Meta’s response.
Critics repeatedly accuse the Commission of enforcing the digital rules too hesitantly and of imposing penalties too rarely. The proceedings against Meta over inadequate youth protection have already been running for more than two years. In a separate case, Brussels is also demanding that Instagram and Facebook enforce the minimum age of 13 set out in their terms of use. The Commission presented a comparable preliminary finding against TikTok in February; that investigation is ongoing.
Context: The Debate Over a Minimum Age for Social Media
The reviews come amid growing international criticism of large online platforms. In the United States, Meta — together with YouTube — lost a closely watched case over the addictive potential of its services; jurors in Los Angeles awarded a 20-year-old plaintiff three million dollars, 70 percent of which is to be borne by Meta. At the same time, several countries have restricted access to social media for those under 16 or are considering doing so.
The debate is gaining momentum in Europe as well. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to present the recommendations of a specially appointed expert panel on child safety online on Monday. Several member states — including France, Spain, Greece and Austria — want to establish a statutory minimum age for social media use; there are similar plans in Germany. The case of France, however, illustrates the limits of national initiatives: the Commission objected to the French draft law banning use by those under 15, deeming it incompatible with EU law, so the text must be revised.
Meanwhile, the US administration under President Donald Trump has sharply opposed enforcement of the DSA, accusing the EU of going too far in policing online content.
