EU Threatens Meta with Fines Over 'Addictive' Instagram Features

The European Union is pressing Meta to redesign a number of features on its social media applications to make them friendlier and to stop encouraging addictive behaviour. If the design is not changed, the EU has threatened to impose financial penalties on the company.

In an announcement last week, the European Commission stated that Meta had violated the Digital Services Act (DSA). The company relies on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalised recommendation algorithms to boost user engagement.

According to the Commission, these features encourage users to keep scrolling and put the brain into “autopilot mode”, contributing to unhealthy usage habits and compulsive behaviour. In addition, Meta is considered to have failed to adequately assess the risks that its addictive design poses to users’ physical and mental health, including minors and vulnerable adults.

The Commission also accused Meta of ignoring evidence about the amount of time minors spend on Instagram and Facebook at night, and how features such as Reels and Stories can encourage excessive or compulsive platform use. “Evidence also shows that the mitigation measures Meta currently has in place fail to address the risks posed by its platform’s addictive design,” the European Commission said, as quoted by TechCrunch on Sunday (12 July 2026).

For example, the screen time management features on Facebook and Instagram, including those activated by default for teenage users, were judged to be easy to ignore and not to provide any meaningful reduction in or control over usage time.

Consequently, the Commission is requiring Meta to deactivate the features deemed addictive by default, including autoplay and infinite scroll. Meta is also being asked to introduce effective screen time breaks and to modify its recommendation algorithms so they are no longer so heavily oriented towards increasing user engagement.

Nevertheless, these findings are not yet final. Meta will be given the opportunity to review the evidence submitted by the European Commission and to provide its formal response. Should the investigation’s findings be confirmed, Meta faces fines of up to 6 per cent of its total global annual revenue.