In a preliminary finding, the European Commission stated that the design of Instagram and Facebook violates the Digital Services Act: infinite scrolling, autoplay videos, and personalized recommendations trap users in an "autopilot mode," jeopardizing their physical and mental health, particularly that of teenagers.
This is not merely about technical features, but rather the deliberate choices made by Meta’s designers and product teams, who have spent decades optimizing interfaces to maximize time spent in the app. The commercial logic is clear: the longer a person scrolls, the more advertisements they see, thereby increasing the platform's revenue.
The EU is demanding that the company disable autoplay and infinite scrolling by default, introduce mandatory breaks, and take into account data regarding nighttime activity among young people. Meta, for its part, maintains that it has already implemented "Teen Accounts" with restrictions and disagrees with the regulator's findings.
Behind this story lies a profound conflict: design created to capture attention inevitably clashes with human cognitive boundaries. Imagine someone who logs on for "five minutes" to check messages, only to find themselves still scrolling through Reels an hour later—this is the exact scenario that forms the basis of these allegations.
This marks Meta's second violation of the DSA in 2026; in April, the company was accused of failing to adequately protect children under the age of 13. While fines could reach up to 6% of annual turnover, the signal it sends is more important than the numbers: the era in which designers could exploit psychological triggers with impunity is coming to an end.
The EU's decision demonstrates that digital design is no longer a private corporate matter. It is becoming a subject of public regulation, where aesthetics and usability are evaluated not just by engagement metrics, but by their real impact on people's lives.
