Brussels – The design of Meta’s Instagram and Facebook is addictive, and this breaches the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to an investigation by the European Commission that focused on certain features of the two apps. Following a study of certain features of the apps, such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications and the platforms’ highly personalised recommendation systems, the EU executive concluded that the US giant “did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults.” Within the EU, “ Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” reiterated the Executive Vice-President responsible for technological sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen.
The investigation shows that highly personalised recommendations, autoplay, and infinite scrolling encourage users to scroll and shift their brains into “autopilot mode.” This is said to encourage the development of “unhealthy habits and compulsive use,” which has a worrying impact, particularly on children. According to the Commission, Meta disregarded available information about the time minors spend on Instagram or Facebook at night and how the optimisation of its different formats – such as reels and stories – could lead to excessive or compulsive use of the services. Another example illustrating Meta’s shortcomings is the time-management tools on Instagram and Facebook, including those enabled by default for teenagers. As they can be easily disabled, they do not encourage meaningful reductions in usage time and/or help control service usage. Nor are the parental controls provided by the apps effective, as they only work if parents and/or guardians “have adequate technical skills and devote time and effort to fully understanding them.” The same applies to the tips and links to mental health resources available via a separate page dedicated to the app’s “safety centre”; although they were designed to mitigate the toxic dynamics of Facebook and Instagram, they fail to achieve their aim.
The Commission therefore considers that Meta should implement changes to the design of the two apps. Among the solutions proposed to the company is the disabling, by default, of the main features that create addiction, such as autoplay and infinite scrolling. These should instead be replaced by effective “screen breaks” and a recommendation system designed to reduce “engagement.”
Meta can respond to these allegations by exercising its right of defence. It will therefore be able to examine the documents contained in the Commission’s investigation files and respond in writing to its preliminary conclusions, which, as Virkkunnen emphasised, “do not prejudge the final outcome of the investigation.” At the same time, the European Digital Services Board (EBD) – an independent advisory body established by the DSA to ensure that large online platforms comply with the rules consistently across the European Union – will be consulted. Should the Commission’s conclusions be definitively confirmed, the European Commission may issue a non-compliance decision, which may “trigger a fine proportionate to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement, capped at 6 per cent of the total worldwide annual turnover of the provider.”
Today’s conclusions form part of the wider framework of the formal procedure launched on 16 May 2024 to investigate Meta’s compliance with the DSA. They are based on an in-depth investigation that included an analysis of the company’s risk assessment reports, internal data and documents, and responses to numerous requests for information provided by Meta itself. This was supplemented by “a review of the extensive scientific research on this topic and interviews with experts in multiple fields, including behavioural addiction.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
