Brussels today ordered the giant American technology company Meta to change features of Facebook and Instagram that it considers excessively «addictive,» threatening it with a very heavy fine if it fails to comply.
Brussels accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s company of failing to properly assess and mitigate the risk that users of the two platforms face of developing an addiction, particularly minors and vulnerable adults, due to features designed to hold their attention for as long as possible.
These include, primarily, the unlimited flow of content, highly personalized recommendations, and even automatic video playback —features designed to increase advertising revenue for both platforms, as they encourage users to scroll endlessly.
«These features feed into users‘ need to keep watching content and put their brains into ’autopilot» mode, contributing to unhealthy behaviors and compulsive use,” explained the European Commission.
Moreover, the EU’s executive body is not satisfied with the parental controls built into Facebook and Instagram, which appear to be overly complicated to manage, nor with the settings regarding the amount of time teenagers spend in front of screens.
«We dispute these preliminary conclusions, which do not take into account the significant measures we have taken to protect teenagers,» said a Meta spokesperson contacted by Agence France-Presse.
«We share the European Commission’s commitment to providing a safe and positive online environment,» the company added, noting that its accounts aimed at teenagers—which were created two years ago—allow parents «to block Instagram overnight and limit screen time during the day to just 15 minutes.».
The European Commission announced these preliminary orders as part of an investigation launched in May 2024 into Mark Zuckerberg’s company, which is suspected of not doing enough to protect minors online.
Meta will now have the opportunity to defend itself and propose measures to address the shortcomings attributed to it.
However, if the European Commission is not satisfied, a hefty fine could be imposed on the American tech giant, which could amount to as much as 6% of its global annual revenue.
