The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling – POLITICO

TikTok spokesperson Paolo Ganino said the Commission’s 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.”

The right solution

The Commission could eventually agree with platforms on a wide range of changes that address addictive design. What they decide will depend on the different risk profiles and patterns of use of each platform — as well as how each company defends itself.

That likely means it will take a while for TikTok to make any change to its systems, as the platform reviews the evidence and tries to negotiate a solution with the regulator.

In another, simpler DSA enforcement case, it took the Commission more than a year after issuing preliminary findings to declare Elon Musk’s X was not compliant with its obligations on transparency.

TikTok may pursue a series of changes and may push the Commission to adopt a lighter regulatory approach. The video-sharing giant likely won’t “get it right” the first time, said EDRi’s Penfrat, and it may take a few tries to satisfy Brussels. 

“It could be anything from changing default settings, to outright prohibiting a specific design feature, or requiring more user control,” said Peter Chapman, a governance researcher and lawyer who is associate director at the Knight-Georgetown Institute.

He expects the changes could be different for each platform — as while the findings show the Commission’s thinking, interventions must be targeted depending on how design features are used.

“Multiple platforms use similar design features” but they serve different purposes and carry different risks, said Chapman, pointing to the example of notifications that try to draw you back in. For example, notifications for messages carry a different risk of addiction to those alerting a user about a livestream, he said.