{"id":544348,"date":"2026-07-11T11:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544348\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T11:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:19:12","slug":"concern-raised-at-eu-finding-on-addictive-facebook-and-instagram-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544348\/","title":{"rendered":"Concern raised at EU finding on \u2018addictive\u2019 Facebook and Instagram features"},"content":{"rendered":"

A children\u2019s representative group has expressed concern at a preliminary finding against the \u201caddictive\u201d design of Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n

The European Commission said on Friday it had reached an interim conclusion that Instagram and Facebook features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalised recommender systems contribute to \u201cunhealthy habits and compulsive use\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said that as a result, Meta could be in breach of the Digital Services Act.<\/p>\n

While there is a long road ahead to ensure these platforms are accountable for harms that occur on their sites, at the very least, they should be held responsible for the harms caused by their own design<\/p>\n

Noeline Blackwell, Children\u2019s Rights Alliance<\/p>\n

It said Meta\u2019s mitigation measures \u201cfailed to effectively tackle the risks\u201d stemming from its \u201caddictive\u201d design and that it may need to disable the autoplay and infinite scroll as a default and implement effective screen-time breaks.<\/p>\n

Meta now has the chance to respond and defend itself before the commission issues its final decision, which could result in a fine worth up to 6 per cent of the group\u2019s global annual revenue.<\/p>\n

Meta said on Friday that early findings do not recognise the steps that the company has already taken and its commitment to protecting teenage users.<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Rights Alliance, an independent non-governmental organisation that represents children and young people, said it was \u201cextremely concerned\u201d at the interim findings against Meta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings bolster calls from the Children\u2019s Rights Alliance and other concerned advocacy groups, parents and young people \u2013 for a more robust regulatory response to harmful online content,\u201d said Noeline Blackwell, online safety coordinator with the Children\u2019s Rights Alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only that, but the Commission also found that Meta disregarded information and evidence about how much time children and young people spend on Instagram and Facebook at night and the role their design formats play in encouraging compulsive and excessive engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheSocial media apps are seen on a phone screen (Yui Mok\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile not the final outcome of the investigation, the ball is now in Meta\u2019s court to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the Commission\u2019s proposal to disable these key addictive features.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Cyclist<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Cyclist (40s) killed in Kildare hit-and-run<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would go further and call for a safety-by-design approach that would see these major tech players address the harms that occur on their sites and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the standard required for most other products disseminated in the EU. Why should this tech giant be different?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there is a long road ahead to ensure these platforms are accountable for harms that occur on their sites, at the very least, they should be held responsible for the harms caused by their own design.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A children\u2019s representative group has expressed concern at a preliminary finding against the \u201caddictive\u201d design of Facebook and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-544348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}