EU Commission: addictive design Instagram and Facebook in breach of the DSA

The European Commission said Monday that a preliminary investigation found Meta Platforms in breach of the Digital Services Act over the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. The Commission said Meta did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users including minors and vulnerable adults. It singled out features such as personalized recommendations autoplay and infinite scroll arguing that they fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into autopilot mode. The report also criticizes the tools Meta provides to help limit users' use saying time management tools can be easily dismissed parental controls require technical expertise effort and time on behalf of the parents to be effective and that Meta's mental health awareness measures are too limited to mitigate the risks. The Commission suggests disabling features like autoplay and infinite scroll by default implementing effective screentime breaks and making the recommendation algorithm less engagement oriented. The investigation began in May 2024 and is separately assessing Meta's age verification tools and content protections for minors. Meta will now have the chance to defend itself but if the Commission's decision is made final the company could face a noncompliance fine of up to 6 percent of its worldwide annual turnover. In 2025 that was $200.97 billion meaning a potential fine of up to $12 billion. Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms said Henna Virkkunen the Commission's tech policy chief. The Digital Services Act provides a clear framework to hold platforms accountable for the addictive design and effects of their services. We are fully committed to enforcing our legislation in Europe.