Meta $META's Instagram and Facebook violated the European Union's Digital Services Act through addictive design features that pose risks to users' physical and mental wellbeing, the European Commission said Thursday in preliminary findings that could lead to fines running into the billions of dollars.
The commission's investigation, launched in May 2024, found that Meta failed to adequately assess the risks posed by features including infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and personalized recommendation systems. According to the commission, those features push users toward compulsive behavior by stoking the impulse to keep scrolling and effectively putting the brain on autopilot.
The investigation further concluded that Meta ignored available data showing how late into the night users under 18 remained on the platforms, and that content formats like Reels and Stories were linked to patterns of excessive or compulsive engagement.
Meta's existing safeguards were found insufficient. Built-in time management features — even those that turn on automatically for teen users — proved easy to bypass without any real reduction in use, while the parental control systems demanded a level of technical fluency and time investment that regulators said most parents cannot reasonably be expected to have. Among the remedies the commission outlined: stripping autoplay and infinite scroll from their default-on status, building in genuine screen-time interruptions, and overhauling the recommendation engine so it is no longer optimized primarily around keeping users engaged.
If the preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta faces a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover. Based on the company's 2025 revenue of just under $201 billion, that fine could exceed $12 billion, according to Euronews.
Meta spokesperson Ben Walters pushed back on the commission's conclusions, telling Reuters that the preliminary findings fail to give proper weight to the company's efforts on teen protection. The company pointed to Teen Accounts, launched after the probe opened, as evidence of its commitment — a product it says gives parents the ability to restrict nighttime access and place a ceiling on how long their children can spend on the app each day.
European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said in a statement that the DSA "provides a clear framework to hold platforms accountable for the addictive design and effects of their services."
The action marks a continuation of regulatory pressure on Meta: earlier this year, in April, the commission issued a separate set of preliminary findings faulting the company for not doing enough to keep children younger than 13 off its platforms, according to CNBC.
The E.U. ruling adds to a wave of legal pressure Meta has faced over youth safety. Four U.S. states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in a case over allegations the company designed its platforms to addict young users and misled the public about safety, ahead of an August trial in federal court in California. A separate New Mexico jury found Meta liable for $375 million in damages earlier this year.
Before any binding decision is reached, the commission said its findings at this stage carry no presumption of guilt, and Meta retains the ability to review the case file and submit a written defense.