EU Eyes Tougher Guardrails as US-Meta Deal Tests Global Regulatory Playbook

The US settlement with Meta over teen safety requires changes to Facebook and Instagram for minors, including time limits, stricter age checks, and disabling cosmetic filters, across a decade. EU regulators say these steps fall short of the Digital Services Act’s ambitions and are pushing for default, across-the-board changes to met with stronger remedies targeting addictive design (autoplay, infinite scroll, personalized feeds). Meta says it will monitor the U.S. rollout and engage with EU authorities, but has not committed to extending the changes worldwide, risking further penalties under EU law if compliance isn’t achieved.