EU Says TikTok’s Endless Scroll Is “Addictive”

With input from the New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, the Guardian, the Financial Times, BBC, and the Verge.

The European Union just hit TikTok with a blockbuster accusation: the app’s infinite scroll, autoplay and hyper-personalized recommendations amount to an “addictive design” that risks users’ physical and mental wellbeing — especially kids. In a preliminary decision released Friday, EU regulators said those features push people into “autopilot” scrolling and that TikTok ignored clear warning signs, like how often minors open the app at night.

The European Commission — acting under the bloc’s Digital Services Act — told TikTok it needs to overhaul core parts of the app or face fines of up to 6% of global revenue. Suggested fixes include limiting infinite scroll, forcing effective screen-time breaks (including at night), beefing up parental controls and changing the recommendation system so it’s less compulsive.

This is the first time regulators anywhere have applied a legal standard to social-media “addictiveness.” The ruling could set a template for how other countries police design features that encourage compulsive use. TikTok has more than 200 million users in Europe, so any enforced redesign would be a big deal for the company’s business model and ad revenue.

TikTok pushed back hard, calling the Commission’s findings “categorically false and entirely meritless” and saying it will challenge the decision “through every means available.” The company has a chance to respond to the preliminary ruling before a final decision is made.

Regulators aren’t coming out of nowhere. TikTok already faces lawsuits in the US that borrow from Big-Tobacco playbooks, accusing platforms of hooking young users. Countries from Australia to parts of Europe are weighing limits on kids’ access to social apps; Spain’s prime minister has even floated banning under-16s from platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Lawmakers and campaigners have been increasingly blunt: the focus is shifting from “toxic content” to “toxic design.”

TikTok can respond and try to head off penalties, but the ball is now in Brussels’ court. If the Commission keeps its preliminary stance, the company will have to choose between redesigning the product in Europe or fighting a costly legal and PR battle — and regulators are watching other platforms, too. As one EU tech official put it, platforms are now being held responsible for the effects their designs have on users.