On Friday, February 6th, the European Commission accused TikTok of having “addictive” features in its content, violating the EU’s online content rules. The EU demands TikTok to modify its application design or face hefty fines, with the penalty amounting to 6% of its parent company ByteDance’s global revenue.
After a year-long investigation into TikTok under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires large online platforms to take more measures to combat illegal and harmful content, the European Commission concluded that TikTok’s features such as endless scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommendation systems are designed to be highly “addictive”.
The investigation found that TikTok continuously generates new content to incentivize users to keep scrolling, putting users’ brains on autopilot and leading to addiction and obsession.
Furthermore, the conclusion pointed out that TikTok failed to fully assess the harm these features could cause to children and vulnerable adults’ mental and physical health, neglecting important addiction indicators such as minors’ nighttime usage and the frequency of users opening the app.
The European Commission stated that TikTok appears not to have taken appropriate and effective measures, such as screen time management tools and parental control features, to mitigate these risks. The conclusion emphasizes that TikTok must modify these fundamental designs to protect Europe’s minors.
In response to the EU’s accusations, TikTok stated that the investigation results are completely erroneous and unfounded, and they will take all necessary steps to rebut them.
Prior to the European Commission’s decision, TikTok can request access to the investigation documents and submit a written response. Last year, TikTok was accused of violating the Digital Services Act advertising library release rules by not allowing developers and users to identify fraudulent ads, resulting in a settlement with the EU.
According to BBC reports, European Commissioner for Technology Affairs Henna Virkkunen told reporters that TikTok must “change its service design in Europe” to avoid fines.
The European Commission has proposed several measures that the platform can take, including implementing “screen time limits” during nighttime use and changing its algorithm for pushing personalized content to users. The Commission also suggested TikTok disable the so-called “endless scrolling” feature, which enables users to quickly browse through millions of videos on the platform.
Virkkunen stated, “The Digital Services Act stipulates that platforms have a responsibility for the impact on their users.”
“In Europe, we legislate to protect children and citizens’ online safety.”
Professor Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Political Economy told BBC that while TikTok has introduced some tools to improve user online safety, it is still not enough to comply with the EU’s guidelines.
Social media expert Matt Navarra told BBC that while the term “addiction” is often overused in these debates, the European Commission’s investigation results seem to be based on “genuine behavioral science”.
He added that this marks a “significant shift” in how regulatory bodies view social media platforms.
“This appears to be the first time a major regulatory body has pointed out that the design is the issue,” he said. “The problem is no longer just harmful content, but harmful design.”
Virkkunen also revealed that investigations into other online platforms are progressing smoothly, and decisions are expected to be made in the coming weeks or months, although she did not name any specific companies.