ACCORDING to The European Commission, TikTok’s structural architecture contravenes the European Union’s Digital Services Act, with the commission deeming the platform’s “addictive design” unsuitable for safeguarding users’ wellbeing, particularly minors.
The formal findings highlight features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, pervasive push notifications, and a highly granular personalised recommendation engine, arguing these elements perpetually reward content and can induce a compulsive urge to scroll, effectively depositing users in an autopilot state. Regulators contend that TikTok’s existing parental controls and screen-time constraints are insufficient to mitigate these systemic risks.
In response, a TikTok spokesperson told The New York Times that the commission’s preliminary conclusions are a mischaracterisation and meritless, with the company planning to contest the findings through all legal avenues. The EU’s inquiry began in February 2024, and if proven in violation, TikTok could face a penalty of up to 6% of its global annual revenue and a mandatory directive to restructure its core operating model. The article was published on 9 February 2026.