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EU Accuses Meta of Engineering Addictive Social Media Platforms

WireByte Staff · July 11, 2026

The European Commission has issued preliminary findings accusing Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, citing features such as autoplay and infinite scroll. Meta has been given until to respond to the allegations, which could lead to fines of up to $12 billion.

Key points

  • The European Commission has accused Meta of engineering Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, citing features such as autoplay and infinite scroll.
  • The Commission has given Meta until to respond to the allegations, which could lead to fines of up to $12 billion.
  • The investigation found that these features contribute to unhealthy habits and compulsive use, and the Commission wants Meta to disable them by default.
  • Meta has disagreed with the allegations, but has yet to respond formally to the Commission's findings.

EU Accuses Meta of Engineering Addictive Social Media Platforms

The European Commission has issued preliminary findings accusing Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive. The Commission's investigation, which began in May 2024, found that features such as autoplay and infinite scroll contribute to unhealthy habits and compulsive use.

The Commission has given Meta until to respond to the allegations, which could lead to fines of up to $12 billion. The investigation focused on the architecture of the platforms, rather than their content. The Commission wants Meta to disable autoplay and infinite scroll in default settings, implement effective screen-time breaks, and retune its recommendation algorithm away from pure engagement maximisation.

Meta has disagreed with the allegations, but has yet to respond formally to the Commission's findings. The outcome of the investigation could have significant implications for the social media industry and the way companies design their platforms to engage users.

Sources

WireByte Staff — Editorial Team

The WireByte editorial team synthesises technology news from multiple primary sources, verifies the facts, and links every source. Articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed under our editorial policy.