The European Commission announced preliminary findings that Meta may have breached the EU Digital Services Act by designing Facebook and Instagram to keep users engaged.

The probe focuses on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalized recommendation algorithms.

The Commission said it determined that Meta did not properly assess or mitigate the risk that these features pose, especially to children and vulnerable adults.

Internal evidence about the amount of time minors spend on the platforms at night was not taken into account, according to the Commission.

Meta's tools for managing usage time and its parental-control functions were judged by the Commission to be ineffective, as they can be dismissed and require considerable technical effort from parents.

The Commission wants Meta to redesign the platforms, including disabling autoplay and infinite scroll by default, introducing mandatory screen-time breaks and making recommendation systems less focused on maximizing engagement.

Henna Virkkunen, executive vice president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy at the Commission, said that protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social-media platforms.

The findings remain preliminary, and Meta will have an opportunity to respond before a final decision is reached. If a breach is confirmed, fines of up to 6% of Meta's worldwide annual turnover, roughly $12 billion, may be imposed.

The case adds to a wider regulatory push to limit social media's impact on younger users, following statements by UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer about possible measures to curb auto-play and endless scrolling.

Meta did not respond to The Register's request for comment.