Features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and its personalised recommender system are addictive by design, the European Commission’s prelimary decision has found
The preliminary decision says that the tech giant has contravened the Digital Services Act and faces a fine of up to 6pc of annual turnover.
The social media firm, owned by Chinese-based Bytedance, has its European headquarters in Dublin, where it employs over 2,500 people.
The Commission has been investigating TikTok’s compliance under the Digital Services Act, launched in 2024.
As well as addictive design, the investigation has been looking at the “rabbit hole effect” of TikTok’s recommender systems, security and safety for kids and the “risk of minors having an age-inappropriate experience due to a misrepresentation of their age”.
“The Commission’s investigation preliminarily indicates that TikTok did not adequately assess how these addictive features could harm the physical and mental wellbeing of its users, including minors and vulnerable adults,” said the Commission in a statement.
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“For example, by constantly rewarding users with new content, certain design features of TikTok fuel the urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain of users into autopilot mode. Scientific research shows that this may lead to compulsive behaviour and reduce users’ self-control.
“Additionally, in its assessment, TikTok disregarded important indicators of compulsive use of the app, such as the time that minors spend on TikTok at night, the frequency with which users open the app, and other potential indicators.”
In response, a spokesperson for TikTok said that “the Commission’s 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.”
However, the European Commission said that TikTok “seems to fail to implement reasonable, proportionate and effective measures to mitigate risks stemming from its addictive design”, claiming that features such as screentime management tools and parental control tools “do not seem to effectively reduce the risks stemming from TikTok’s addictive design”.
It said that the time management tools are not effective in enabling users to reduce and control their use of TikTok because they are “easy to dismiss and introduce limited friction”.
Similarly, the Commission said, parental controls may not be effective because they require additional time and skills from parents to introduce the controls.
“At this stage, the Commission considers that TikTok needs to change the basic design of its service,” the lawmaking body 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 added that the preliminary findings “do not prejudge” the outcome of the investigation.
TikTok will now be asked by the Commission to defend against the charges. If the Commission’s preliminary finding is upheld, it can issue a non-compliance decision with a fine of up to 6pc of the total worldwide annual turnover of the company.
Last year, TikTok was fined €530m by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for improper transfers of data outside the EU to China. The company is currently appealing that decision.
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