A preliminary finding by the EU Commission has found TikTok in breach of EU internet rules for its addictive design, and for not assessing its potentially harmful effect on children.
Addictive design found by the Commission under the EU’s Digital Services Act includes features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and its highly personalised recommender system.
The investigation preliminarily indicates that TikTok did not adequately assess how addictive 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’. 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.
Risk mitigation measures
TikTok seems to fail to implement reasonable, proportionate and effective measures to mitigate risks stemming from its addictive design.
For example, the current measures on TikTok, particularly the screentime management tools and parental control tools, do not seem to effectively reduce the risks stemming from TikTok’s addictive design. The time management tools do not seem to be effective in enabling users to reduce and control their use of TikTok because they are easy to dismiss and introduce limited friction. Similarly, parental controls may not be effective because they require additional time and skills from parents to introduce the controls.
“Social media addiction can have detrimental effects on the developing minds of children and teens”, said EC executive vice-president Henna Virkkunen: “The Digital Services Act makes platforms responsible for the effects they can have on their users. In Europe, we enforce our legislation to protect our children and our citizens online.”
At this stage, the Commission considers that TikTok needs to change the basic design of its service. 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 EU executive styresses that preliminary findings do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
The Commission says its preliminary views are based on an in-depth investigation that included an analysis of TikTok’s risk assessments reports, internal data and documents and TikTok’s responses to multiple requests for information, a review of the extensive scientific research on this topic, and interviews with experts in multiple fields, including behavioural addiction.
TikTok now has the possibility to exercise its right to defence. It may examine the documents in the Commission’s investigation files and reply in writing to the Commission’s preliminary findings. In parallel, the European Board for Digital Services will be consulted.
If the Commission’s views are ultimately confirmed, the Commission may issue a non-compliance decision, which can trigger a fine proportionate to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement and reach up to but not more than 6% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the provider.
