The European Commission delivered a preliminary finding on July 10 that Meta’s Instagram and Facebook contain addictive design features — infinite scroll, autoplay and hyper-personalised recommendations — that violate the Digital Services Act (DSA), giving the company a final chance to argue its case before a formal non-compliance decision. If confirmed, Brussels can levy fines of up to 6 percent of Meta’s annual global revenue and require the deactivation of core engagement mechanics. The same week, Meta suspended its “Muse Image” AI tool just three days after launch, following a backlash over the feature’s default use of public Instagram photos for image generation without explicit consent.

Regions across the globe are accelerating separate but parallel moves to bar minors from social media entirely. Australia’s pioneering ban for under-16s, in force since December 2025, has been widely judged a failure by early assessments — The Bell describes it as “disastrous” — because enforcement relies on age-verification systems that users routinely circumvent. Nevertheless, more than 20 states are now pressing ahead. In Asia-Pacific, Indonesia and Malaysia already exclude under-16s, while China has progressively tightened time limits since 2019. Brazil links under-16 accounts to parental profiles, and Turkey, the UAE and Gulf states will phase in bans for under-15s over the next 18 months. Within the EU, Greece, Sweden, Austria, Slovenia, Denmark and Ireland are each advancing legislation, and the Commission itself is weighing bloc-wide rules on child access.

Regulatory pressure on Meta extends beyond Europe. India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is reviewing Meta’s response to a July 4 notice demanding the removal of ads allegedly linked to child sexual abuse material on Instagram, after a BBC investigation prompted a formal three-week deadline. Separately, the EU commissioner for justice signalled that Brussels will propose a new Digital Fairness Act by year’s end, targeting addictive design, subscription traps and risky algorithms, with penalties applicable to all online platforms, not just the largest gatekeepers. Viewed from Washington, these moves ratchet up the transatlantic tech policy conflict that has already seen Apple fined €1.8 billion over music streaming and Meta penalised €200 million under the Digital Markets Act.

The dossier now rests with Member States and the Commission. A committee of EU-appointed experts is set to submit recommendations on a potential underage social-media ban on July 13, and the Commission expects to decide within weeks whether to propose a bloc-wide age restriction. For Meta, the immediate step is to respond to the preliminary DSA findings; if those are upheld, a formal infringement decision will trigger the fine calculation and mandated design overhauls. The company rejects the charges, insisting its “Teen Accounts” and other safety tools adequately protect young users, but the sheer geographic spread of the emerging legislative patchwork suggests that a fundamental product rethink may be unavoidable.