Infinite scroll on Facebook and Instagram: Brussels threatens Meta with a fine of 6% of global revenue

On 10 July 2026, the European Commission preliminarily found that infinite scroll and video autoplay on Facebook and Instagram breach the Digital Services Act. Meta risks a fine of up to 6% of its global revenue. Seventeen days later, Meta announced plans to roll out a full-screen video feed by default. Here is what this sequence means for your Meta campaigns.

1. What Brussels holds against Meta

On 10 July 2026, the European Commission notified Meta of its preliminary findings: the architecture of Facebook and Instagram, infinite scroll, video autoplay and an engagement-optimised recommendation system, would breach Articles 25, 34 and 35 of the Digital Services Act. The Commission accuses Meta of disregarding its own internal data on teenagers' nighttime usage and on how compulsive these formats are. If confirmed, the fine could reach 6% of the group's global revenue, a potential bill above 11 billion euros. Meta contests the findings and has a deadline to respond.

2. Meta's answer: even more full-screen video

Seventeen days after Brussels' warning, on 27 July, Facebook head Tom Alison announced in a blog post plans to test, later this year, a TikTok-style full-screen display as the default feed for the heaviest video users. The test will start in markets with the highest video consumption, with an easy switch back to the classic feed. Meta has not confirmed whether the EU will be among the first markets tested.

3. What this means for your Meta campaigns

Nothing is mandatory for Belgian advertisers today. But two shifts are taking shape, in opposite directions. If the EU secures a default opt-out from infinite scroll and autoplay, attention on each classic feed post changes in nature: less passive scrolling, more active user decisions. Conversely, if Meta pushes a default full-screen video feed, even outside the EU at first, the ad format that grabs attention within the first second becomes even more central. Either way, classic static creative loses ground.

4. The right move: diversify, don't panic

Nothing is final yet on the Commission's side, and Meta has announced no change for the EU at this stage. The right move is therefore not to shift everything in a rush, but to check two things: the share of your Meta budget concentrated on passive feed formats versus short video, and how dependent you are on a single ad platform. Google, LinkedIn, TikTok and Amazon remain useful backups if either scenario plays out.

The AI lens, humans first

An AI agent can continuously monitor Meta's official posts and European Commission communications, and flag any architecture or ad policy change within hours. That is a genuine time saver. But deciding whether your creative formats need to evolve, and by how much to shift budget between platforms, remains an expert's job, one who knows your market and your goals. AI executes. Expertise decides, and watches.