Silicon Valley is panicking about Brussels, and for good reason. Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snap have mounted what EU officials describe as the most aggressive lobbying campaign in years to block or water down proposed regulations targeting addictive social media algorithms.
The stakes are existential for Big Tech's business model. The proposed measures would require platforms to offer algorithm-free feeds, limit endless scroll features, and ban design elements specifically engineered to keep users - especially children and teenagers - glued to screens.
Translation from Brussels-speak: Europe is trying to make it illegal to deliberately addict people to your product. And Big Tech is fighting like hell to stop it.
"The intensity of the lobbying is extraordinary," a senior EU official told The Brussels Times. "These companies know this strikes at the heart of their entire engagement model."
The measures are part of the Digital Services Act implementation, and they're backed by growing evidence that social media algorithms are designed with addiction mechanics borrowed from gambling and gaming. Internal documents from Meta and TikTok - leaked to regulators - show engineers explicitly discussing "time on platform" optimization and "engagement loops."
Big Tech's argument is predictably self-serving: algorithms provide "personalized experiences" that users want. But what users "want" and what's good for them are different things - a distinction Europe is increasingly willing to make, even if America isn't.
The contrast with US regulatory inaction is stark. While Washington holds endless hearings that produce nothing, Brussels is actually writing rules that will change how Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk do business globally.
"The US won't protect its own citizens from these predatory practices," said Alexandra Geese, a German Green MEP leading the effort. "So Europe will do it, and American users will ultimately benefit too."
She's right. When Brussels passes digital regulation, Silicon Valley complies globally because building separate systems is too expensive. That's what happened with GDPR, and it's what will happen here.
The lobbying blitz includes meetings with commissioners, planted op-eds warning of "innovation stifling," and funding for think tanks that produce reports questioning the addiction science. Meta alone has spent an estimated €8 million on Brussels lobbying this year.
But Europe isn't backing down. The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee voted 38-4 last week to advance the strongest version of the addiction measures. A full Parliament vote is expected in March.
"We're not trying to ban social media," Geese emphasized. "We're saying: give users actual choice. Let them decide if they want the algorithm or just a chronological feed. That shouldn't be controversial unless your business model depends on addiction."
That last sentence is the quiet part said loud. Big Tech's entire model does depend on addiction - on keeping users scrolling, clicking, engaging far longer than they intended. The EU data is damning: average daily social media use in Europe is 2 hours and 25 minutes, up from 90 minutes in 2019.
Brussels decides more than you think. If these rules pass, your Instagram feed will look different whether you live in London, Lagos, or Los Angeles. And Silicon Valley knows it.
