EU orders Instagram, Facebook to change addictive design or face fines

Meta Platforms Instagram and Facebook have been charged with violating EU tech rules by manipulating and harming the users through its addictive features.

In the wake of harms imposed by these features, the EU’s tech regulator ordered these social media platforms to make changes to autoplay and infinite scroll or risk heavy financial penalties.

The findings stem from the European Commission’s two-year investigation under the Digital Service Act (DSA), which obliged the major online platforms to do more to tackle illegal content and neutralize its harmful impacts.

According to the Commission, under the landmark DSA, Meta has failed to properly analyze the risks originating from “autoplay, highly personalised recommendations and infinite scroll, which continuously feed users new content and encourage prolonged engagement.”

Speaking about the excessive use, the regulators warned that short reels over Instagram and Facebook are fueling the compulsive use crisis.

The regulator argued that Meta’s risk-mitigation strategies are insufficient: time management tools are easily ignored, and parental controls are too burdensome, requiring excessive time, effort, and technical expertise to implement effectively.

To tackle these crises, Meta must take effective steps, ranging from disabling these addictive designs, making recommendation systems less-engagement driven and reducing the screen time through breaks, as cited by Commission.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said, “The next step is either that Meta changes its design or a non compliance decision will follow.”

Meta dismissed these findings, “We disagree with these preliminary ​findings, which don't accurately take into account the significant steps we've taken to protect teens.”

Meta spokesperson Ben Walters said, "Since this investigation ​began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control - allowing them to block access to Instagram at night ‌and cap ⁠daily screen time at just 15 minutes."

In the case of non compliance, Meta could face a hefty fine up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover.