European authorities declare Meta’s strategies insufficient to combat social media dependency.
The European Commission has determined that Meta’s design choices for Instagram and Facebook contribute to addictive behaviors, violating the Digital Services Act of the EU. This inquiry began in May 2024, addressing concerns about addiction and the safety of young users, specifically examining features like infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and tailored recommendations. The commission’s initial report revealed that Meta failed to sufficiently evaluate the impact of its design on users’ mental and physical health, particularly for minors and vulnerable populations.
The findings suggest that Meta neglected to acknowledge how these design elements encourage excessive scrolling, thereby contributing to unhealthy social media consumption patterns. Additionally, the commission noted the potential for formats like stories and reels to stimulate excessive usage of their platforms.
In response, Meta expressed disagreement with these preliminary conclusions, arguing that the commission overlooked the significant measures it has implemented to protect teens since the start of the investigation. One such initiative is the introduction of “Teen Accounts,” which empower parents to limit their children’s evening access and restrict daily screen time to 15 minutes.
Nevertheless, the commission asserted that there is evidence indicating that Meta’s current strategies do not adequately mitigate the identified issues. Tools for managing time on Instagram and Facebook are reportedly easy for teens to circumvent and do not effectively reduce app usage. Furthermore, for parental controls to work, parents must possess a degree of technical knowledge and the time to learn the system, which can diminish the effectiveness of these protective measures, according to the commission.
The European Commission believes that substantial redesigns are necessary, recommending that Meta disable autoplay and infinite scrolling by default. It also advocates for the introduction of “screen time breaks” and a less engagement-driven algorithm. Meta has the right to contest these findings and will have access to the materials reviewed during the investigation. Should the commission’s conclusions be validated, the company might face penalties reaching 6% of its overall annual revenue.
