EU preliminarily accuses Meta of violating Digital Services Act over addictive Facebook and Instagram design

The European Commission said Meta may have breached the Digital Services Act by designing Facebook and Instagram in ways that can drive compulsive use, especially among minors.

The preliminary findings, announced on July 10, 2026, mark a new escalation in Brussels’ enforcement against one of the world’s biggest social media companies. If the Commission’s view is upheld after Meta responds, the company could face fines of up to 6% of its worldwide annual revenue and be ordered to change how the apps work.

What Brussels says

The Commission said features including infinite scroll, autoplay, recommendation systems and push notifications can encourage users to stay on the apps longer than they intended. It said Meta did not adequately assess the risks those design choices may pose to users’ physical and mental health.

Officials also argued that Meta’s parental and teen protections can be too easy to dismiss or too difficult to use in practice, and therefore do not meaningfully reduce use. The Commission wants the company to make design changes that would turn autoplay and infinite scroll off by default, encourage screen breaks and make recommendations less focused on maximizing engagement.

The case is part of a broader EU push to test how the Digital Services Act applies to large platforms whose products can shape user behavior at scale. Under the law, major platforms must assess and mitigate systemic risks, including risks to minors.

How the case got here

The Commission said its investigation into Meta began in 2024. The new findings do not stand alone; they build on earlier EU scrutiny of the company’s handling of children and teenagers on Facebook and Instagram.

In April 2025, Brussels separately said Meta failed to keep children under 13 off the two platforms and did not remove underage users effectively. That earlier step focused on access and age verification. The new round of findings focuses instead on app design itself.

That shift matters because the Commission is now testing whether product features that reward endless scrolling and repeated engagement can amount to a DSA breach, even before any content-specific harm is considered.

Meta’s response

Meta said it disagrees with the preliminary findings and said the Commission did not properly account for steps the company says it has taken to protect teens. The company pointed to its Teen Accounts system, which it says lets parents block Instagram at night and set daily screen-time limits of 15 minutes.

The company can now respond to the Commission’s findings and inspect the investigation file before any final decision is made. The current announcement is therefore an enforcement milestone, but not the end of the case.

Why it matters

If the Commission ultimately confirms non-compliance, the result could be one of the most significant DSA actions yet against a major platform. A final ruling could force product changes in Facebook and Instagram, not just financial penalties.

The case also has broader political weight in Europe, where lawmakers and regulators have been pressing harder on child and teen online safety. It raises the question of how far platforms must go to reduce compulsive use and mental-health risks rather than simply reacting to complaints after the fact.

The Commission’s approach also sets up a potentially important precedent for how the EU treats addictive design under the DSA. If Brussels prevails, it would strengthen the idea that interface choices themselves can create systemic risk.

What happens next

The Commission can still revise its view after Meta’s reply. If Brussels maintains the case, it can move toward a final non-compliance decision that would carry the risk of fines and mandated changes.

Another part of the Commission’s scrutiny of Meta remains open, including a separate strand involving recommendation-driven “rabbit hole” effects. For now, the new preliminary finding adds pressure on Meta while leaving the broader investigation incomplete.