TECH NEWS – The European Union often intervenes with social media platforms, so this is nothing new.
In a press release dated February 5, the European Commission announced that TikTok‘s addictive design could be in breach of the Digital Services Act, based on its preliminary assessment: “The Commission’s investigation preliminarily indicates that TikTok did not adequately assess how these addictive features could harm the physical and mental well-being of its users, including minors and vulnerable adults… By constantly ‘rewarding’ users with new content, certain design features of TikTok fuel the urge to keep scrolling and shift users’ brains into ‘autopilot mode.'”
The statement cites worrying data that TikTok allegedly failed to factor in, such as how much time minors spend on the app at night. It also argues that parental-control tools are not sufficient to curb the app’s potential to trigger compulsive behavior and erode users’ self-control.
However, this remains a preliminary finding. TikTok has been given the opportunity to change its practices or respond in writing and defend itself before any final decision is made. The Commission will also consult the European Board for Digital Services, and if its position is ultimately confirmed, TikTok could face a fine of up to 6% of ByteDance‘s total worldwide annual turnover. Considering that ByteDance surpassed Meta in quarterly revenue last year, that would not be a small number.
As reported by Politico, TikTok spokesperson Paolo Ganino dismissed the preliminary findings as categorically false and as portraying the platform in an entirely undeserved light, adding that the company will take every necessary step and use every tool at its disposal to challenge those conclusions. In other words, they are not going to quietly remove infinite scroll. It may take a while before any real changes happen.
Last year, the EU fined Twitter €120 million for deceptive design practices and other alleged breaches – a decision Elon Musk called “crazy.” Whether TikTok changes at all as a result of this new wave of scrutiny remains an open question, but it is probably not hard to guess where this is heading.
Source: PCGamer, European Commission, Reuters, Politico, PBS
