The European Union has given a strong warning to Meta, saying the tech giant must change the way Facebook and Instagram work or face massive fines.
On Friday, European officials accused the American company of failing to protect its users from features that are designed to keep people hooked on their apps. This warning aims to keep children and vulnerable adults safe online.
Regulators are particularly worried about specific features that make people stay online for a very long time. These include the endless scrolling feature, highly personalised feeds, and videos that play automatically.
European tech chief Henna Virkkunen stated that protecting the physical and mental health of people in Europe must be a top priority for social media companies.
The European Commission believes that Meta has broken European online safety rules. Officials have ordered the company to make big changes to the design of Facebook and Instagram.
These changes include turning off features like autoplay and endless scroll by default. The EU also wants Meta to introduce proper screen-time breaks and to change its system so it stops trying to grab users' attention every second.
If these findings are confirmed, the EU has the power to hit Meta with a massive fine. This penalty could be up to six per cent of its total global annual money-making turnover.
However, a senior European official made it clear that Brussels does not want to punish companies just for the sake of it. The official explained that they simply want to bring about real change, and they would be pleased if Meta made these changes voluntarily.
This warning comes just before a team of experts gives new advice on Monday to EU leader Ursula von der Leyen on how to protect children online. Ursula von der Leyen is facing a lot of pressure to act quickly.
Some European countries, including France, are pushing for an all-out ban on social media for children. This follows a similar groundbreaking law passed in Australia for under-16s.
The EU gave a very similar warning to TikTok in February, telling that platform to change its layout or face giant fines. However, officials said there is a slight difference here because Meta has always tried to put some protections in place for younger users.
The official investigation into Meta started back in 2024 under a strict new online content law known as the Digital Services Act.
In the details shared on Friday, European officials said that Facebook's and Instagram's current time limits are too easy for kids to turn off. They also noted that parental controls only work well if parents are excellent with technology.
The commission added that Meta ignored data about how much time children spend on apps at night and failed to see how short videos like reels and stories cause compulsive habits.
Meta said it disagrees with the findings but will continue to talk constructively with the EU. The company argued that the EU's views do not look fairly at the big steps they have already taken to protect teenagers.
Meta pointed to its new Teen Accounts, which let parents block access to Instagram at night and set a strict daily screen time limit.
The wide-ranging investigation is also looking into rabbit-hole effects. This effect happens when computer formulas feed users more and more extreme content based on what they have clicked before.
Meta is facing similar pressure across the Atlantic, where a major court trial in the United States recently ruled that Meta and YouTube were harmfully addictive.
