EU threatens TikTok with massive fine over addictive design features

The European Commission on Thursday notified TikTok that it believes it has violated the Digital Services Act’s provisions barring addictive design.

The preliminary findings follow an investigation that began in February 2024 probing features such as “infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and its highly personalised recommender system,” the European Commission said in a press release. 

If the findings are sustained, TikTok could face a fine of up to 6% of its global annual turnover.

“At this stage, the Commission considers that TikTok needs to change the basic design of its service,” the press release said. “For instance, by disabling key addictive features such as ‘infinite scroll' over time, implementing effective ‘screen time breaks', including during the night, and adapting its recommender system.”

The Commission said it believes TikTok did not sufficiently consider how these addiction features may harm the well-being of users, particularly minors.

TikTok’s design constantly “rewarding” users with new content creates an addictive need to scroll and shifts users' brains into “autopilot mode,” the press release said. 

The Commission said that TiKTok ignored signs of compulsive use, including by overlooking that minors are using the platform at night and that users are opening the app at a very frequent rate.

Screen time management tools and parental controls were a focus for the Commission, which said they don’t work.

“The time management tools do not seem to be effective in enabling users to reduce and control their use of TikTok because they are easy to dismiss and introduce limited friction,” the press release said. “Similarly, parental controls may not be effective because they require additional time and skills from parents to introduce the controls.”

The decision is not final. TiKTok now has an opportunity to defend itself by examining the case file and submitting a written defense.

A spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement that the “preliminary findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to challenge these findings through every means available to us."

The investigation also probed what the press release called the “rabbit hole effect” of TikTok's recommender systems and the risk of minors having an “age-inappropriate experience” by misrepresenting their age.

Countries including Australia, Spain and the United Kingdom have taken steps in recent months to ban the use of social media by minors as they weigh the impact of children’s screen time on mental health.