EU urges TikTok to change ‘addictive’ design
A European Commission investigation has preliminarily found that social-media platform TikTok is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) due to its “addictive design”.
The commission cited features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and TokTok’s “highly personalised” recommender system.
The EU body said that its investigation also indicated that TikTok did not adequately assess how these features could harm the physical and mental wellbeing of its users – including minors and vulnerable adults.
“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',” the commission stated.
“Scientific research shows that this may lead to compulsive behaviour and reduce users' self-control,” it added.
Important indicators
The EU body also found that TikTok had 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.
“Social-media addiction can have detrimental effects on the developing minds of children and teens,” said commissioner Henna Virkkunen, who added that the DSA made platforms responsible for the effects they could have on their users.
The commission argued that the platform had failed to implement reasonable, proportionate, and effective measures to mitigate risks stemming from its design.
The commission cited the current measures on TikTok, particularly screen-time management tools and parental control tools, saying that they did not seem to effectively reduce the risks stemming from TikTok's design.
‘Disable features’ call
The EU body said that, at this stage, TikTok needed to change the basic design of its service, calling on the platform to disable features such as ‘infinite scroll' over time, implement effective ‘screen-time breaks', and adapt its recommender system.
The commission stressed that its preliminary findings did not pre-judge the outcome of the investigation.
The platform, now majority-owned by US investors, can now exercise its right to defence, by examining the documents in the commission's investigation files and replying to its preliminary findings.
TikTok has described the findings as “a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform” and has vowed to challenge them.
Under the DSA, the EU body can levy a fine of up to 6% of the total worldwide annual turnover of a provider if it does not comply with the act.