The European Union has decided that infinite scroll is a public health crisis, which is why they are threatening Meta with fines while 2.3 billion people voluntarily stare at their phones for six hours a day. The regulators have discovered something remarkable: features designed to keep you scrolling actually keep you scrolling. This required investigation.
Meta’s crime, according to the bloc, is making Facebook and Instagram so compulsively engaging that users cannot stop. The infinite scroll—that magical conveyor belt of content that never ends because there is no end—is now officially classified as a dark pattern. A dark pattern, for the uninitiated, is a design choice that makes you do something you didn’t intend to do, which describes approximately every social media feature ever shipped.
The fine could reach 5% of global revenue. Meta’s response was immediate: they will add a toggle to limit infinite scroll, which users will never toggle on because that is not how addiction works. You don’t cure addiction by offering the addict a button labeled “stop being addicted.” You cure it by not offering the drug in the first place, but that would require Meta to stop making money, and we both know how that ends.
The real absurdity is not that Meta built addictive features. It is that regulators are shocked—genuinely surprised—that a $600 billion company optimized for engagement actually achieved engagement. Meta did not hide this. Their entire business model is a confession. The EU is fining them for doing exactly what they said they would do, which is fine Meta for being honest.
Meanwhile, the EU’s citizens continue scrolling. Nothing changes. Meta pays the fine. The scroll continues. Everyone pretends this was a victory.