The European Commission has preliminarily found that Meta breached the Digital Services Act by failing to properly assess how Facebook and Instagram design choices may harm users’ physical and mental wellbeing.
The finding puts several very familiar pieces of the feed machine under regulatory fire: personalized recommendations, autoplay and infinite scroll. According to the Commission, those features can encourage users to keep scrolling and push them into what it called “autopilot mode.” That is regulator-speak for the thing every product manager with a retention dashboard understands perfectly well.
The Commission said Meta did not adequately evaluate the risks of that design for users, including minors and vulnerable adults. The case is not final. Meta will be able to respond before the Commission decides whether to confirm the breach.
What Brussels wants changed
The Commission said Meta may have to redesign both Facebook and Instagram if the preliminary findings stand. Its suggested fixes are pointed at the mechanics of attention capture, rather than just another settings page nobody asked for.
- Turn off autoplay and infinite scroll by default.
- Add screen-time breaks that the Commission considers effective.
- Make recommendation systems less focused on engagement.
The Commission also criticized Meta’s existing user-protection tools. It said time-management prompts can be dismissed too easily, parental controls demand too much effort and technical knowledge from parents, and Meta’s mental health awareness measures do not go far enough to reduce the risks identified by regulators.
Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s tech policy chief, said social media platforms must prioritize Europeans’ physical and mental health. She said the Digital Services Act gives regulators a framework to hold platforms responsible for addictive design and the effects of their services.
The fine could reach $12 billion
The DSA allows fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s worldwide annual turnover for non-compliance. Meta reported 2025 annual turnover of $200.97 billion, which would put the theoretical ceiling for a fine at about $12 billion if the Commission’s finding becomes final.
The investigation began in May 2024. The Commission is also separately examining Meta’s age-verification systems and protections for minors, according to the case details cited by the regulator.
The EU action lands while policymakers in the bloc are considering a social media ban for children under 16. A Commission report on that proposal is due next Monday, according to The Guardian.
Meta is also facing a related legal fight in the United States. In August, the company is due to go to trial over allegations that its apps are intentionally addictive. Four states are reportedly seeking combined penalties of up to $1.4 trillion in that case.
For now, the EU finding is preliminary. The confirmed part is narrower and still significant: Brussels is no longer treating infinite feeds, autoplay and recommendation tuning as neutral interface choices. It is treating them as product decisions that may carry legal liability under the DSA.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
