EU Tells Meta: Kill Infinite Scroll and Autoplay or Face Billion-Dollar Fines

Key points

• The European Commission, the EU's executive body, made a preliminary finding in 2025 that Meta's Facebook and Instagram use design features that cause addictive behaviour.
• Features named include autoplay (videos that start playing without you pressing anything), infinite scroll (a feed that never reaches a bottom), and highly personalised content recommendations.
• Regulators say Meta failed to properly assess the harm these features cause to mental and physical wellbeing, including for children and vulnerable adults.
• Meta could face fines worth up to six percent of its global annual revenue if the EU's final ruling goes against it.

Picture a slot machine. You did not choose to pull the lever again. The machine just kept going. That is roughly what European regulators are accusing Meta of building into Facebook and Instagram.

The European Commission said its investigation found that Meta "did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users." Built-in features kept people glued to their screens, and regulators say the company never seriously asked whether that was doing harm.

Autoplay starts the next video the moment the current one ends, so you never have to choose to keep watching. Infinite scroll gives your feed no natural stopping point, no bottom where you might put the phone down. Personalised recommendations use your past behaviour to serve content most likely to hold your attention, which sounds helpful until it isn't.

"These features fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into 'autopilot mode,' contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use," the Commission said.

Children and teenagers are still developing the self-regulation skills adults rely on, and regulators are specifically worried the platforms exploit that gap.

The finding is preliminary: Meta has a chance to respond before any final decision is made. The Digital Services Act, the EU law governing this area, allows fines of up to six percent of a company's total global turnover. At that rate, the number would be very large indeed. We covered how Meta responds to user-driven pressure in our 13 July story on the pulled Instagram AI feature, and this regulatory push carries considerably more force than user complaints.

What does this mean for ordinary users?

If the EU follows through, Europeans could see Facebook and Instagram stripped of autoplay and the endless feed. Some platforms already offer optional timers or feed limits. This ruling, first reported by Ars Technica, could make such changes mandatory rather than buried in a settings menu.

For parents, the practical point is immediate: most phones and apps already offer screen-time limits and autoplay controls. Turning off autoplay in your child's app settings today is a five-minute job that removes one of the specific mechanisms regulators flagged. You do not need to wait for a final ruling.