EU accuses TikTok of ‘addictive design’ that harms children, seeks changes to protect users

LONDON – The European Union on Friday accused TikTok of breaching the bloc’s digital rules with “addictive design” features that lead to compulsive use by children, in preliminary charges that strike at the heart of the popular video sharing app’s operating model.

EU regulators said their two-year investigation found that TikTok hasn’t done enough to assess how features such as autoplay and infinite scroll could harm the physical and mental health of users, including minors and “vulnerable adults.”

The European Commission said it believes TikTok should change the “basic design” of its service. The commission is the EU’s executive arm and enforcer of the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Services Act, a sweeping rulebook that requires social media companies to clean up their platforms and protect users, under threat of hefty fines.

TikTok denied the accusations.

“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,” the company said in a statement.

TikTok’s features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommender systems “lead to the compulsive use of the app, especially for our kids, and this poses major risks to their mental health and wellbeing,” Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a press briefing in Brussels.

“The measures that TikTok has in place are simply not enough,” he said.

The company now has a chance to defend itself and reply to the commission’s findings. Regnier said “if they don’t do this properly,” Brussels could issue a so-called non-compliance decision and possible fine worth up to 6% of the company’s total annual revenue. There was no deadline specified for the commission to make a final decision.

The preliminary findings are the latest example of pressure that TikTok and other social media platforms are facing over youth addiction.

Australia has banned social media for under-16s while governments in Spain, France, Britain,Denmark,Malaysia and Egypt want to introduce similar measures. In the U.S., TikTok last month settled a landmark social media addiction lawsuit while two other companies named in the suit — Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — still face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children.

TikTok has 170 million users in the European Union and “most of these are children,” Regnier said. He added that 7% of children aged 12 to 15 spend four to five hours daily on TikTok, and it’s “by far” the platform most used after midnight by children aged 13 to 18, citing unspecified data.

“These statistics are extremely alarming,” he said.

The commission said that TikTok fuels the urge to keep scrolling because it constantly rewards users with new content, leading to reduced self control.

It said TikTok ignores signs that someone is compulsively using the app, such as the amount of time that minors spend on it at night, and how often the app is opened.

The company has failed to put in place “reasonable, proportionate and effective” measures to offset the risks, it said.

The commission said TikTok’s existing time management controls are easy to dismiss and “introduce limited friction,” while parental tools need “additional time and skills” from parents.

Changes that the commission wants TikTok to make include disabling features like infinite scroll; putting in more effective breaks for screen time, including at night; and changing its “highly personalized” recommender system, which feeds users an endless stream of video shorts based on their preferences.

TikTok says it has numerous tools, such as custom screen time limits and sleep reminders, that let users make “intentional decisions” about how they spend their time on the app. The company also noted it has teen accounts that let parents impose time limits on use, and prompt teen users to switch off in the evenings.

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Associated Press journalist Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.