BRUSSELS — A significant new chapter in European digital regulation opened on Friday as updated Digital Services Act enforcement guidelines targeting addictive design patterns came into force, requiring major social media platforms to disable engagement-maximising algorithmic feeds by default for users in the European Union. The move, foreshadowed by the European Commission's accelerating push against so-called 'engagement hacks', obliges platforms to offer chronological or user-curated feeds as the default experience rather than algorithmically optimised scroll loops.

The European Commission confirmed that Meta's Instagram and Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube must now present EU users with feeds that do not rely on engagement-optimised ranking systems unless users actively opt in. Platforms that fail to comply face fines of up to six percent of global annual turnover under the DSA's enforcement framework. Commission Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen said the measures were 'a direct response to mounting evidence that infinite scroll and autoplay mechanics cause measurable psychological harm, particularly among minors.'

TikTok confirmed late Thursday that it had deployed an updated interface for EU users rolling out from midnight Brussels time, replacing its default For You feed with a Following-based chronological view. Meta said Instagram's EU version would prompt users on first open Friday morning to choose between its standard algorithmic feed and a new 'Calm Feed' defaulting to chronological posts from accounts they follow. YouTube said its European autoplay default would be toggled off pending further regulatory guidance.

Digital rights groups broadly welcomed the changes, though some cautioned that opt-in mechanisms could be made deliberately cumbersome. 'The Commission will need to watch closely whether dark patterns simply migrate from the feed design to the consent screen,' said Diego Naranjo, senior policy adviser at EDRi. Platform lobby groups meanwhile warned that the changes could reduce content discovery for smaller creators and publishers who depend on algorithmic distribution for audience reach.

The enforcement action builds directly on guidance published earlier this month by the Commission's DSA Joint Enforcement Unit and reflects growing political momentum in Brussels and several EU member states to treat manipulative design as a public health issue rather than merely a privacy concern. Analysts expect the EU moves to accelerate similar legislative debates in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, where parliamentary committees have been studying comparable 'safe by default' obligations for online platforms.