Disable Autoplay and Infinite Scroll Or Risk Massive Fines, EU Tells Meta
4 104An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The European Union is ramping up pressure on Meta to make big changes to Facebook and Instagram after the European Commission preliminarily found that features like autoplay, infinite scroll, and highly personalized content recommendations were addictive. On Thursday, the EC said its investigation indicated that "Meta did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults." "These features fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into 'autopilot mode,' contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use," the commission said. Over the next few months, Meta will have an opportunity to dispute the claims, and it has already taken a defensive stance. Meta's spokesperson, Ben Walters, told Reuters that Meta disagrees with the commission's preliminary findings, which supposedly "don't accurately take into account the significant steps we've taken to protect teens."
"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," Walters said. However, the EC emphasized that Meta's current mitigation efforts, including time management tools activated by default for teens, "failed to effectively tackle the risks stemming from its addictive design." Additionally, parental controls were deemed "only effective if parents and guardians possess adequate technical expertise" and dedicated "effort and time to understand them effectively." "This undermines the efficiency of such measures in addressing the inherent risks posed by Instagram and Facebook's addictive design," the EC said, particularly for minors.
At this stage, the EC recommended that Meta consider "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." If Meta fails to make changes to comply with the EU's Digital Services Act, the company risks fines up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover when the EC makes its final decision in the coming months. "Our starting point is that, based on our findings, this design is too addictive and changes need to be made," Henna Virkkunen, the EU's tech chief, told Reuters. "The next step is either that Meta changes its design or a non-compliance decision will follow," she said, noting in the press release that the EU's priority is "protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans." "The Digital Services Act provides a clear framework to hold platforms accountable for the addictive design and effects of their services," Virkkunen said. "We are fully committed to enforcing our legislation in Europe."
The report also notes that the EC will share findings from experts on Monday that "could help pave the way for a Europe-wide social media ban for teenagers." It's not looking much better for Meta in the U.S., either. The company faces a lawsuit from 29 states that claim Meta's platforms addict kids. "That trial begins in August, and states may seek up to $1.4 trillion in penalties if Meta is found guilty," reports Ars.
4 comments
Re:Leave Meta alone or face embargoes on all trade (Score: 5, Insightful)
by hawguy ( 1600213 ) on Friday July 10, 2026 @03:24PM (#66231856)
There is no limit to is escalation tactics.
That's all the more reason to not try to appease him, because there's no limit to reasons he'll think of to retaliate against perceived grievances. He could wake up one morning and fart crosswise and impose sanctions on the EU.
So the EU (and rest of the world) should just go about their lives, do what they need to do, and not worry about trade sanctions, because even trade agreements signed by Trump himself won't prevent sanctions.
Re:Leave Meta alone or face embargoes on all trade (Score: 5, Insightful)
by allo ( 1728082 ) on Friday July 10, 2026 @05:15PM (#66231994)
But are they convenient features?
Autoplay: Is there anyone who wants a random video to start catching their attention while reading their feed? That's totally an advertiser feature.
Endless scroll: Just consider the alternative. With pagination you can bookmark where you stopped scrolling, so you can continue later.
Endless scroll forces you to read until the gap between the top and where you left off last time is closed, otherwise you never will find the position of where you stopped reading again. Chronological ordering would help a bit, but you still have to jump around between positions you can only find by scrolling and not by page numbers.
They are selling your attention and so they are optimizing how much content gets your attention. They are not optimizing for you to use the app effectively, they optimize for the ads to catch your attention.
Re:People are sheep and can't help themselves (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Friday July 10, 2026 @04:04PM (#66231904)
I think there's a middle ground between the libertarian view of it's your own damn fault if you didn't realize buying Snicker bars in bulk and stuffing your face with them will make you fat!" or "People lack the self control to snack responsibly, so we're locking the junk food behind the counter and placing purchase limits on it." IMHO, that middle ground should be educating and informing people of the risks, but ultimately leaving the final decision up to them (assuming they're an adult, obviously).
Yeah, I know we're discussing social media and not unhealthy food, but there's a common thread with lawmakers believing they can make people healthier (mentally/physically) in spite of themselves.
Social Fixer (Score: 5, Interesting)
by EnsilZah ( 575600 ) on <`moc.liamG' `ta' `haZlisnE'> on Friday July 10, 2026 @03:36PM (#66231872)
I managed to get Facebook to behave almost the way I want it to using the Social Fixer extension.
Chronological order, no ads, only posts from people and pages I'm actually following, no autoplay, no stories. But as a side effect it seems to reload the page multiple times and sometimes stalls for a while, so it ends up too much of a hassle to check it more than a couple times a day anyway.