EU accuses Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, threatens fines
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EU accuses Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, threatens fines
Meta pulls Instagram AI image tool after global backlash over privacy
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The European Union has accused Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, giving the company a formal opportunity to respond before Brussels reaches a final decision that could trigger fines of up to 6% of its global annual revenue.
The European Commission issued preliminary findings on Friday, July 11, 2026, stating that features like autoplay and infinite scroll make Facebook and Instagram too addictive. Based on Meta's 2025 turnover of roughly $201 billion, the potential fine could be substantial .
Meanwhile, Meta has pulled its new AI image generator feature, Muse Image, from Instagram and its Meta AI app just three days after its launch. The company acknowledged that the tool "missed the mark on user privacy." The feature allowed users to generate images based on public Instagram posts without the original poster's consent, leading to criticism from privacy advocates and Hollywood .
The feature was the first image generator to emerge from Meta's Superintelligence Labs under chief AI officer Alexandr Wang. However, it faced backlash for automatically including users with public profiles without their explicit consent .
In response to the criticism, Meta stated, "We wanted to provide a useful, creative tool for people, and give them the opportunity to decide whether their public content can be used in this way." However, the company admitted that the feature "missed the mark" and was pulled .
Privacy experts and advocacy groups have welcomed Meta's decision to pull the Muse Image feature. The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) called the decision "the responsible step," adding that it was unacceptable for such features to be introduced without clear and explicit consent from users .
Thorsten Klosowski, a privacy expert from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, stated that such features should only be enabled with explicit user consent. "This is a completely new use of photos that users have posted publicly over the years, which they certainly didn't think of when they signed up for Instagram," Klosowski said .
The EU's scrutiny of Meta's platforms is part of a broader effort to regulate big tech companies and their impact on users' mental health and privacy. The European Commission's preliminary findings suggest that features like autoplay and infinite scroll are designed to keep users engaged for longer periods, potentially leading to addictive behavior .
Meta has not yet responded publicly to the EU's findings, but the company has a formal opportunity to do so before any final decision is made. If the EU's findings are upheld, Meta could face significant fines and be required to change its platforms' design to reduce their addictive qualities.
The debate over AI and privacy continues as tech companies grapple with the ethical implications of their innovations. While AI tools offer new creative possibilities, they also raise important questions about consent, privacy, and the responsible use of technology.
The outcome of the EU's case against Meta could set an important precedent for how tech companies design their platforms and use AI in the future.
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