{"id":757537,"date":"2026-07-11T23:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757537\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T23:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:32:16","slug":"eu-orders-meta-to-make-apps-less-addictive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757537\/","title":{"rendered":"EU orders Meta to make apps less \u2018addictive\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels has ordered Meta to make Instagram and Facebook less addictive, threatening the company with huge fines<\/a> if it continues to offer features such as \u201cinfinite scrolling\u201d.<\/p>\n

The European Commission said features on the apps meant people exhibited compulsive behaviour and ended up using them in \u201cautopilot mode\u201d.<\/p>\n

Companies can be fined up to 6pc of their global turnover \u2013 as much as $12bn (\u00a39bn) in Meta\u2019s case \u2013 for serious infringements of the EU\u2019s Digital Services Act.<\/p>\n

It said Meta should disable addictive features such as video autoplay and the infinite scroll of the apps\u2019 feeds. It also said it should introduce screen time breaks for users and overhaul its algorithm to make content less addictive.<\/p>\n

Social media companies<\/a> are required to provide risk assessments to Brussels about the dangers of their apps, and the EU said Meta had failed to take into account data about compulsive use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese features fuel the user\u2019s urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into \u2018autopilot mode\u2019, contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Brussels also said that the company\u2019s screen time limits and parental controls, which are designed to limit how much children<\/a> can use the apps, were easily circumvented.<\/p>\n

It pointed to features such as Reels, the company\u2019s short-form video format, as well as Stories, short updates shared by users.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage of the investigation, the commission considers that Meta needs to implement design changes to both Instagram and Facebook,\u201d it said. \u201cFor instance, by disabling key addictive features such as \u2018autoplay\u2019 and \u2018infinite scroll\u2019 by default, implementing effective \u2018screen time breaks\u2019, and adapting its recommender system to make it less engagement-oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU, like Britain, is considering introducing a social media ban<\/a> for under-16s, following the example of Australia.<\/p>\n

The commission said its findings were a preliminary decision after launching an investigation two years ago. The final decision can trigger a fine.<\/p>\n

Meta is able to examine the commission\u2019s findings and legally challenge them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company said: \u201cWe disagree with these preliminary findings, which don\u2019t accurately take into account the significant steps we\u2019ve taken to protect teens.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control \u2013 allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe share the European Commission\u2019s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive online experiences, and will continue to engage constructively with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brussels has ordered Meta to make Instagram and Facebook less addictive, threatening the company with huge fines if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[7250,28,7255,13390,10414,4136,1282,165,108,615,74],"class_list":["post-757537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-big-tech","tag-business","tag-companies","tag-european-commission","tag-facebook","tag-instagram","tag-meta","tag-mobile","tag-social-media","tag-standard","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}