European Commission: ‘TikTok's addictive design violates European law’
TikTok is not doing enough to address the risks posed by the addictive design of its social media app. This was the conclusion reached by the European Commission as part of an investigation into violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission is calling for the basic design of the app to be modified.
Two years ago, the European Commission launched an investigation into possible violations of the DSA by TikTok. Among other things, it wanted to assess whether the popular platform is taking sufficient measures to limit the risks of its addictive design and protect the well-being of its users.
No, is the preliminary conclusion. According to the Commission, TikTok has not taken sufficient account of the impact of features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and the personalised recommendation system on the mental health and well-being of users, including minors and vulnerable adults.
For example, by constantly “rewarding” users with new content, TikTok encourages the urge to keep scrolling and puts users' brains into “autopilot mode”. Scientific research has shown that this can lead to “compulsive behaviour” and “impaired self-control,” according to the Commission. “Social media addiction can have detrimental effects on the developing minds of children and teens,” added Vice-President Henna Virkkunen.
According to the investigation, TikTok also appears to be failing to take “reasonable, proportionate, and effective measures” to mitigate the risks posed by its addictive design. The Commission considers the screen time management and parental control tools to be “ineffective.” The screen time management tools can easily be ignored, and parental controls may not be effective because they require additional time and skills from parents to introduce the controls.
The Commission is asking TikTok to change its basic design, for example by disabling infinite scrolling over time, introducing effective screen time breaks, including at night, and adjusting the recommendation system. The Chinese company now has the opportunity to review the investigation and defend itself. The Commission prefers to engage in dialogue with the company to achieve design changes. However, if TikTok continues to violate the DSA, it faces fines of up to 6 per cent of the company's global annual turnover.
TikTok has 170 million users in the European Union, mainly minors. According to the Commission, it is by far the most used platform after midnight by children between the ages of 13 and 18. Seven per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds spend between four and five hours on TikTok every day.
The DSA, in force since 2023, aims to give citizens more rights and protection online and requires large online platforms to take measures to mitigate risks. So far, there has been one fine. In December last year, the Commission fined Elon Musk's platform X 120 million euros for violations of transparency obligations.
Illustration © PHOTO Robin Utrecht/ABACAPRESS.COM
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