EU threatens Meta with fines over addictive features on Facebook and Instagram

techcrunch.com Jul 10, 2026

EU threatens Meta with fines over addictive features on Facebook and Instagram

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Jul 10, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

The European Commission announced on Friday that Meta must overhaul addictive design features on Facebook and Instagram or face significant fines under the Digital Services Act. The Commission alleges that features like infinite scroll, autoplay, and personalized algorithms fuel compulsive use and shift users into “autopilot mode,” harming physical and mental wellbeing. It found Meta failed to adequately assess risks to minors and vulnerable adults, noting that existing time management tools are easily dismissed and ineffective. The Commission demands Meta disable key addictive features by default, introduce meaningful screen-time breaks, and modify recommendation algorithms to reduce engagement focus. These findings are not yet final, allowing Meta to review evidence and submit a formal response. If confirmed, Meta faces fines up to 6% of its global annual turnover. This marks the second EU breach finding this year, following an April ruling on underage access. Meta has not yet commented. The company also faces separate U.S. legal scrutiny regarding youth safety and alleged addictive design practices.

💡 Why It Matters

· This regulatory action establishes a precedent for penalizing engagement-driven design choices that compromise user wellbeing.
· It signals a global shift toward holding tech giants accountable for the psychological impact of their product architecture.

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Facebook & Instagram’s addictive design could cost Meta $12.5 billion

The European Commission has formally notified Meta that its Facebook and Instagram applications likely violate the Digital Services Act due to addictive design elements. Preliminary findings indicate that features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications encourage compulsive usage, particularly among minors and vulnerable adults. The Commission argues these mechanisms shift users into an autopilot mode, fostering unhealthy habits. Meta faces potential fines capped at 6% of its global annual turnover. With 2025 revenues reported at $200.97 billion, the financial exposure exceeds $12.5 billion. Regulators criticized Meta’s existing mitigation strategies, stating that parental controls require excessive technical knowledge and screen time tools are easily dismissed. The Commission demands Meta disable infinite scroll and autoplay by default and implement more effective time management systems. Meta retains the right to defend itself against these allegations. If the preliminary breach findings are confirmed, the company must pay a penalty proportionate to the infringement’s nature, gravity, recurrence, and duration. This regulatory action targets core engagement features central to Meta’s business model.

💡 Regulators are moving beyond data privacy to directly challenge the psychological mechanisms driving user engagement. Forcing Meta to disable infinite scroll by default would fundamentally alter the user experience and potentially disrupt the attention economy that powers its advertising revenue.

techtimes.com · Jul 10

Meta Absorbs AI Security’s Top Red Team as Autonomous Ransomware Arrives

Dawn Song, a renowned UC Berkeley computer security professor and MacArthur Fellow, joined Meta Superintelligence Labs as Vice President of AI Research on June 25. She brought three of Virtue AI’s four co-founders and key team members with her. Virtue AI, founded in 2024, specialized in continuous automated red-teaming for production AI agents. Its platform addressed probabilistic agent failures through real-time screening and adversarial testing. Major clients included Anthropic, NVIDIA, Uber, and Microsoft. The acquisition coincided with Sysdig’s July 1 publication of proof that an autonomous AI agent could execute a full ransomware operation without human intervention. This timing highlights the urgency of securing AI systems as threats evolve. Meta now integrates top-tier security expertise directly into its open-source AI deployment strategy. The move positions Meta to address emerging risks like JADEPUFFER, which demonstrated fully autonomous malicious capabilities. This consolidation of talent and technology aims to mitigate structural vulnerabilities in enterprise AI applications.

💡 The simultaneous emergence of autonomous ransomware and the absorption of its primary defense team into Meta creates a critical conflict of interest for competitors like Anthropic. Enterprises must now navigate a landscape where the leading security tools for their AI agents are owned by a direct rival in the foundational model market.

completeaitraining.com · Jul 10

Meta invests more than US$9.1 billion to build first Canadian artificial intelligence…

Meta announced a US$9.1 billion investment to construct its first Canadian artificial intelligence data center in Sturgeon County, Alberta. This facility represents the company’s largest AI infrastructure project outside the United States. To address Alberta’s limited grid capacity, the site will be powered by the 932-megawatt Greenlight Electricity Center, a dedicated natural gas-fired plant. A consortium including Pembina Pipeline Ltd., Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and Kineticor Asset Management is developing the power generation facility, with operations expected to commence in the second half of 2030. Alberta’s regulatory framework prioritized this self-sufficient energy model to attract hyperscale investment. Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish praised the project as significant for the province. Meta also committed US$42 million to local infrastructure improvements, including roads and water systems. The data center will utilize a closed-loop cooling system to avoid drawing water from surrounding sources, aiming to minimize resource strain on the community while supporting the surging demand for AI computing power.

💡 The project validates Alberta’s regulatory strategy of mandating independent power generation for hyperscale facilities, effectively bypassing grid constraints. This model establishes a new blueprint for deploying massive AI infrastructure in regions with limited existing electrical capacity.

en.sedaily.com · Jul 10

Meta to Double Computing, Build Own Chips and Enter Cloud

Meta will commence mass production of its self-designed AI chip, Iris, in September, marking a pivotal step toward infrastructure independence. Co-designed with Broadcom and manufactured by TSMC, Iris aims to reduce reliance on Nvidia and AMD. Internal documents reveal successful validation testing, ending years of development struggles. Meta plans to release new chips every six months through 2027, outpacing industry norms. Concurrently, the company will double its AI computing infrastructure to 14 gigawatts next year, up from 7 gigawatts this year. This massive expansion supports Meta’s entry into the cloud sector. CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that renting out excess computing power externally could be financially viable. By leveraging its own hardware and models like Muse Spark, Meta seeks to compete directly with cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, transforming from a major consumer into a significant supplier of AI computing resources.

💡 Vertical integration allows Meta to bypass the prohibitive costs of third-party hardware, fundamentally altering the economics of large-scale AI deployment. By controlling both the silicon and the cloud infrastructure, Meta secures a critical competitive advantage in the race for model usage fee dominance.

breitbart.com · Jul 10

Strangers Can Use Your Instagram Pictures in Meta’a AI Image Generator –…

Meta has launched Muse Image, an AI image generator integrated into its Meta AI chatbot, that automatically enrolls all adult users with public Instagram accounts, allowing anyone to create AI‑generated pictures using those users’ posted photos. The feature pulls “part or all” of a public profile’s images when the chatbot is prompted to tag the account, and it does so without notifying the account holder. Private accounts and accounts belonging to users under 18 are excluded, but public‑account owners must manually opt out via a few clicks. Critics have condemned the rollout as a privacy breach, calling it a “privacy landmine,” and social media users have circulated step‑by‑step guides to disable the feature. Meta maintains that safety guardrails are in place and that violations will be removed under Community Standards.

💡 It forces millions of public Instagram users into a consent‑free AI experiment, exposing their likenesses to unrestricted manipulation.

firstpost.com · Jul 10

Meta to begin manufacturing ‘Iris’ AI chip in September as AI push…

Meta plans to commence manufacturing its custom “Iris” AI chip in September, marking a significant acceleration in its strategy to expand AI computing capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2027. According to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters, the chip, developed with Broadcom and produced by TSMC, has passed six weeks of testing without major issues. This progress revitalizes Meta’s in-house silicon initiative, which has faced challenges since launching over five years ago. The Iris chip is part of a four-generation roadmap designed to reduce reliance on external suppliers like Nvidia and AMD while lowering computing costs. Meta aims to release new AI chips every six months through 2027, a pace faster than industry norms. The company intends to deploy 7 gigawatts of infrastructure in 2026, doubling it the following year, supported by an estimated $145 billion annual spend on AI infrastructure.

💡 By shifting to a six-month release cycle, Meta challenges the traditional annual hardware cadence, forcing competitors to accelerate their own innovation timelines. This aggressive internal development strategy directly threatens the market dominance of Nvidia and AMD in the high-performance computing sector.