The European Commission’s recent preliminary finding against Meta under the Digital Services Act marks a turning point, albeit a small one. It identified infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalised recommendations as features that encourage compulsive use and threaten physical and mental wellbeing, particularly among minors.
I have argued in the European Parliament that companies must be held responsible and be liable when their products cause foreseeable harm. We know social media is an addiction. Since we already accept the principle of banning or restricting addictive drugs like opioids, why should a digital product capable of causing damage to mental health be treated any differently?
The problem goes deeper than screen time. Technology deepens and exploits vulnerability. A lonely young person searching for answers about rejection, appearance or relationships can enter a feedback loop in which an algorithm learns what provokes a reaction and progressively offers more of it.