EU tells TikTok to change its addictive design

BRUSSELS — The design of TikTok’s app is in breach of EU rules and the company must make significant changes to avoid penalties, the European Commission said Friday.

It’s the first time the Commission has set out its stance on the design of a social media platform under its Digital Services Act — the EU’s flagship online content law that Brussels says is essential for protecting users but has come under heavy fire from the White House.

TikTok should change the way it recommends content to users and implement screen time breaks, the Commission said, as well as disable the feature of infinite scrolling.

If it fails to satisfy the Commission, the app could face fines up to 6 percent of annual revenue. TikTok can now defend itself against the preliminary findings and examine the evidence against it.

“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,” said TikTok spokesperson Paolo Ganino.

TikTok has been under investigation over the addictiveness of its platform since February 2024, and was already accused of breaking rules over transparency in May 2025. Other parts of the investigation around age verification and its recommender system are still ongoing.

This is the first time a legal standard on addictive design has been set globally, a senior Commission official said in a briefing to reporters.

The findings are about “the addictive design of the whole service” but these features are “even more harmful for minors” because “they don’t have the same tools” to avoid compulsive behavior, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters.

The TikTok assessment and subsequent negotiations with Brussels will be closely watched by other social media companies also under investigation, particularly Meta, because Facebook and Instagram are also being scrutinized over addictive algorithms.

In Friday’s announcement the Commission says TikTok broke its rules by designing an addictive application with infinite scroll and autoplay that harms users’ mental health.

The findings take aim at key design elements that have contributed to the success of TikTok and other social media apps, including “’rewarding’ users with new content” and infinite scroll, which the Commission says lead to a compulsive use of the service.

While platforms are required to assess and limit risks to users’ health under the DSA, TikTok’s efforts in this regard — including parental controls and time management features — do not effectively reduce risks to mental health, the Commission said.