Overview
- The European Commission’s preliminary view says TikTok failed to adequately assess or mitigate harms from features that drive compulsive use, especially for children and vulnerable adults.
- Officials singled out infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and a highly personalized recommendation system as elements that promote excessive use.
- Regulators outlined potential remedies including curbing or removing infinite scroll, imposing stronger screen-time pauses at night, strengthening parental controls and altering the recommendation algorithm.
- A final decision could require structural changes or impose a penalty of up to 6% of ByteDance’s global annual turnover, and no deadline has been set.
- TikTok called the assessment categorically false and said it will contest the findings, while the Commission cited extensive youth engagement metrics and statements from Henna Virkkunen and spokesperson Thomas Regnier that current safeguards are insufficient.