European Commission in dialogue with Meta over addictive platform design commitments

The European Commission isn’t suing Meta just yet. But it’s making clear that the clock is ticking. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed on August 26 that the EU is maintaining what he called a “permanent constructive dialogue” with Meta, allowing the company to propose commitments that would address concerns about addictive design features on Instagram and Facebook. The message is diplomatic but firm: come to the table with real changes, or face consequences that could reach 6% of global annual revenue. What the EU found, and why it matters This dialogue follows preliminary findings the Commission issued on July 10, which concluded that Meta had breached its obligations under the Digital Services Act. The core issue isn’t data harvesting or political advertising this time. It’s something more fundamental: the way Instagram and Facebook are built to keep you scrolling. Specifically, the Commission flagged infinite scroll, autoplay video, and personalized recommendation algorithms as features that contribute to compulsive usage patterns. The findings say Meta failed to adequately assess the systemic risks these design choices pose, particularly to vulnerable groups like ...