EU says Facebook and Instagram's 'addictive' design is illegal

EU says Facebook and Instagram's'addictive' design is illegal EU says Facebook and Instagram's'addictive' design is illegal The European Commission says Meta's current mitigation measures can't prevent social media addiction. The European Commission says Meta did implement addictive designs for Instagram and Facebook, and it is in violation of the bloc's Digital Services Act. It started investigating the company over addiction and safety concern for minors in May 2024, focusing on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and the apps' highly personalized recommendation systems. Now, the commission has released its preliminary findings, wherein it said that the company did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults. Meta, the commission concluded, did not take into account that those aforementioned features will fuel users' urge to keep scrolling, thereby contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use of social media. Further, it said the company disregarded how formats like stories and reels could lead to excessive use of its services.