EU Orders Meta to Overhaul Addictive Instagram and Facebook Features or Face Fines

The European Commission has preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act, ordering the company to overhaul addictive features like infinite scroll and autoplay on Instagram and Facebook or face significant fines. The investigation centers on child-safety concerns, with regulators concluding that Meta failed to adequately assess or mitigate risks to the physical and mental wellbeing of users, particularly minors and vulnerable adults ^[1][2]. The Commission specifically demanded that Meta disable these features by amending default settings, arguing that current mitigation measures, including the company's Teen Accounts initiative, have not effectively tackled the problem of excessive use ^[6][8]. This enforcement action marks a major regulatory shift aiming to force social media platforms to redesign their interfaces to prioritize user safety over engagement-driven algorithms.