Remove addictive features or pay fine: EU tells Meta to fix Instagram, Facebook

The European Commission on Friday charged Meta Platforms with breaching the European Union's Digital Services Act, saying Instagram and Facebook contain features that are designed to keep users hooked and ordering the company to change them or risk hefty fines.The Commission's preliminary findings follow a two-year investigation into whether Meta has done enough to protect users, particularly children, from addictive platform design. Meta could face fines of up to 6% of its global annual turnover if found in breach.The EU regulator said Meta failed to adequately assess the addictive risks posed by highly personalised recommendations, autoplay and infinite scroll, adding that reels and stories on Facebook and Instagram could contribute to excessive or compulsive use.According to the Commission, Meta should disable features such as autoplay and infinite scroll by default, introduce effective screen-time breaks and make its recommendation system less focused on driving user engagement. It also criticised the company's safeguards, saying time management tools can be easily dismissed, while parental controls require significant time, effort and technical knowledge to use effectively."Our starting point is that, based on our findings, this design is too addictive and changes need to be made," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told Reuters."The next step is either that Meta changes its design or a non compliance decision will follow."Meta rejected the allegations, saying it has introduced stronger protections for teenagers."We disagree with these preliminary findings, which don't accurately take into account the significant steps we've taken to protect teens," Meta spokesperson Ben Walters said."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."The company said it would continue to engage constructively with EU regulators.The case comes amid growing global scrutiny of social media platforms over concerns that their design contributes to excessive use and mental health issues among children. The EU brought similar charges against TikTok in February and is separately investigating Facebook and Instagram's recommendation systems over so-called "rabbit hole effects". ReutersCatch the latest world news and top headlines. Download the TOI App.