Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Meta must change Facebook’s and Instagram’s “addictive design” or face a heavy fine, the EU warned on Friday. Brussels accused the US tech giant of failing to limit the risks the platforms posed to users, especially children and vulnerable adults, because of features designed to keep them on Facebook and Instagram. Of particular concern are those like endless scroll, highly personalised feeds, and the automatic playback of videos.
“Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement. The European Union has, in recent months, stepped up its efforts to force Big Tech to better protect users online, especially children. In a preliminary view on Friday, the European Commission stated that it “considers that Meta needs to implement design changes to both Instagram and Facebook” after concluding the platforms broke EU content rules.
Changes could include “disabling key addictive features such as ‘autoplay’ and ‘infinite scroll’ by default, implementing effective ‘screen time breaks’, and adapting its recommender system to make it less engagement-oriented,” it added. Meta said it disagreed with the findings but would continue to “engage constructively” with the EU. If the regulator’s views on Meta are confirmed, the EU can impose a fine of up to six percent of the company’s total worldwide annual turnover.
A senior EU official insisted Brussels did not want to punish companies. “We want to bring about change, and if we can get that change via commitments then we would be most happy,” the official stated.
The findings come before an expert panel tasked by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen delivers its recommendations on Monday regarding how the EU can better shield children online from inappropriate content. Von der Leyen faces pressure to act, with some EU states, including France, pushing for bloc-wide bans on social media for minors following Australia’s groundbreaking ban for under-16s.
The EU delivered a similar warning to TikTok in February this year, telling the company to change its design or risk massive fines. However, the official noted there was a “slight difference” with TikTok, as “Meta has indeed always tried to address minor protection online.”
The EU began its probe into Meta in 2024 under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This content law is a major weapon in the EU’s bolstered efforts adopted in recent years to curb what Brussels describes as Big Tech’s excesses. In Friday’s findings, Brussels indicated that Facebook’s and Instagram’s time management tools can be easily dismissed, while parental controls are only effective if parents possess some technical knowledge.
Meta also disregarded information about the time children spend on the apps at night and how the optimization of its different formats—such as reels and stories—could lead to excessive or compulsive use of the services. In response, Meta stated that the EU’s findings “don’t accurately take into account the significant steps we’ve taken to protect teens,” pointing to a type of account launched since the probe began.
Meta’s Teen Accounts allow parents to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at 15 minutes, they said. As part of the same investigation, the EU accused Meta in April of failing to prevent children under 13 from using Facebook and Instagram, thereby potentially exposing them to inappropriate content. The wide-ranging probe is still examining the possible so-called “rabbit hole” effects, which occur when users are fed related content based on an algorithm, sometimes leading to more extreme content on the platforms.
Meta has faced similar scrutiny across the Atlantic, including a US trial this year that ruled Meta’s and YouTube’s platforms were harmfully addictive.
© 2024 AFP
