EU Commission finds Meta's Facebook and Instagram designs addictive to children
The European Commission concluded after a two-year investigation that Meta's platforms use addictive design features including personalized recommendation algorithms, infinite scroll, autoplay video and notifications to increase user engagement, violating EU digital service laws. Meta reportedly rejected the findings and stated it has implemented important protections for teenagers.
What happened
The European Commission concluded a two-year investigation finding that Facebook and Instagram create addiction risks for children and teenagers through personalized recommendation algorithms, infinite scroll, autoplay video, and notifications designed to encourage repeated return and extended engagement.
The Commission stated that features such as Reels and Stories on both platforms lead to excessive and compulsive use, and that Meta's parental control tools are ineffective because they require significant time, effort and technical knowledge to use, while time management tools can be easily bypassed.
Reported impact
The European Commission determined that Meta violated EU Digital Services rules and assessed that Meta has not adequately evaluated the addictive dangers posed by its highly personalized recommendations, autoplay video, and infinite scroll features that continuously provide new content to users and encourage prolonged interaction.
Index analysis
The Commission recommended that Meta disable by default features including autoplay and infinite scroll, implement effective pause intervals during display time use, and reduce the recommendation system's focus on increasing user engagement.
Meta responded by rejecting the allegations and stating that the Commission's assessment ignores important measures Meta has taken to protect teenagers.
Governance controls
The Commission can impose a fine of up to 6 percent of Meta's annual global revenue (approximately 12 billion dollars) if the company cannot resolve the problems or defend its practices, though no deadline for Meta's response has been set.
A separate ongoing EU proceeding requires Meta to effectively enforce a minimum age of 13 years specified in its terms of service, with Meta also facing financial penalties in that case.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.