Meta could face significant penalties as a result, while the company may also be required to offer more alternative experience options for EU residents.
As per the announcement: “Today, the European Commission preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. The investigation focuses on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and the platforms’ highly personalized recommender systems.”
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Meta could face significant penalties as a result, while the company may also be required to offer more alternative experience options for EU residents.
As per the announcement: “Today, the European Commission preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. The investigation focuses on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and the platforms’ highly personalized recommender systems.”
The Commission said Meta had failed to “adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults.”
The Commission added that Meta “did not consider certain design features of Instagram and Facebook” that “fuel the user’s urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into ‘autopilot mode’, contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use.”
The Commission said Meta’s mitigation measures, including its options to limit session time and its parental control tools, did not offer adequate capacity to manage these impacts.
In order to address these concerns, Meta will need to implement design changes to both Instagram and Facebook. Some of the recommendations included “disabling key addictive features such as ‘autoplay’ and ‘infinite scroll’ by default, implementing effective ‘screen time breaks’, and adapting its recommender system to make it less engagement-oriented.”
If the ruling is confirmed, Meta could also face a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover.
The ruling could also have a massive impact on Meta’s operations, forcing the company to implement more region-specific changes in order to align with evolving regulatory demands.
Though, given the broader public sentiment in support of teen social media bans, it seems that many people would favor some level of control.
According to a recent study by Pew Research, 60% of Americans would support teen social media usage restrictions. Meanwhile, in a recent case in California, a jury found that social media platforms can be addictive, and can have significant health impacts on users. In that case, which has opened the door future litigation from many more users, both Meta and Google-owned YouTube were found liable of implementing addictive and potentially harmful features.
The tide of public opinion does seem to be turning against social media platforms in this respect, though Meta maintains that social media addiction is not yet a verified psychological condition. The company may believe this will protect it from future related legal risk.
But with the EU Commission’s preliminary ruling, Meta may have a hard time countering this claim. As a result, the company might need to implement new control options and tools to ensure that users limit their time in its apps.
Add to this any potential fines as a result, and Meta might be looking at significant concerns, which could also restrict its expanding AI push.
