The European Commission’s preliminary finding that TikTok addictive design breaches the Digital Services Act (DSA) is a huge change in how regulators view social media responsibility, especially when it comes to children and vulnerable users. This is not a symbolic warning. It is a direct challenge to the design choices that have powered TikTok’s explosive growth.

According to the Commission, TikTok’s core features—including infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and a highly personalised recommender system—are engineered to keep users engaged for as long as possible. The problem, regulators argue, is that TikTok failed to seriously assess or mitigate the harm these features can c...