🔶 The European Union: Facebook and Instagram are addictive for children

The European Commission said that Facebook and Instagram create the risk of addiction for children and teenagers, and that Meta has violated the EU Digital Services rules. The company is now facing a fine of several billion euros.

The European Commission investigated and reviewed the risk of children becoming addicted to social networks over the past two years. The findings of this review show that one of the problems is personalized algorithms that display content tailored to each user’s interests.

The European Commission also criticized notifications that repeatedly encourage users to return to Facebook and Instagram.

The European Union also believes that autoplay videos and the option of “endless scrolling” — continuous loading of new content when dragging down the page without creating a pause — increase the risk of addiction.

The European Commission has asked Meta to strengthen protections for children and teenagers. Among the proposals from this body are disabling by default the endless scrolling feature and autoplay content, as well as creating mandatory breaks when using Facebook and Instagram.

According to the European Commission’s estimates, the steps Meta has taken so far are not sufficient. For example, parental control settings on Instagram and Facebook are only effective if parents have enough information and technical knowledge.

According to the European Commission, time-management tools for children’s use, such as setting a limit for daily use or break time, can be easily bypassed.