Technology & Science
EU Issues Preliminary DSA Ruling Against TikTok’s ‘Infinite Scroll’ Design
On 6-8 Feb 2026 Brussels ruled that TikTok’s interface violates the Digital Services Act and gave the firm a chance to redesign core features or face fines up to 6 % of global turnover.
Focusing Facts
- Maximum penalty quoted: 6 % of 2025 worldwide revenue—roughly A$16 billion, according to Commission estimates.
- Commission data: 7 % of EU children aged 12-15 spend 4-5 hours a day on TikTok, making it the most-used platform after midnight for 13-18-year-olds.
- This is the first DSA investigation that targets platform architecture rather than user-generated content, a potential precedent for Facebook, Instagram and others already under EU scrutiny.
Context
Regulators have occasionally moved from policing speech to redesigning the medium itself—think of the U.S. 1968 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that forced carmakers to install seatbelts, or the 1990 U.K. ban on toy ads during children’s TV hours. The EU’s action signals a comparable pivot: algorithms now stand where unsafe chassis once did. It also fits a two-decade trajectory in which Brussels—through GDPR (2018) and the DMA/DSA (2024)—uses market access to export safety norms, often clashing with U.S. laissez-faire attitudes and Chinese platform ownership. If upheld, the ruling could normalize state oversight of attention-harvesting design worldwide, nudging social media toward regulated public utilities. On a 100-year scale, it may mark an early moment when digital architecture, like food, drugs, or automobiles before it, became subject to mandatory safety engineering rather than voluntary best practice.
Perspectives
Global mainstream outlets
The Jakarta Post, Firstpost — Frame the EU’s finding as a justified move to safeguard children from TikTok’s addictive design that breaches the Digital Services Act. Lean heavily on EU officials’ talking points and alarming statistics while giving TikTok minimal space to rebut, signalling a regulatory-sympathetic stance that may exaggerate the danger for dramatic effect.
U.S. conservative voices quoted in coverage
allies of former president Donald Trump — Dismiss the EU investigation as punitive over-reach and a pretext to stifle political speech and pressure companies. Ideologically opposed to heavy tech regulation and keen to portray the EU as censorious, they gloss over the mental-health data that prompted the probe.
Tech-industry & business press
ChannelNews — Highlights the huge financial and precedent-setting risks for Big Tech if TikTok must redesign its core features under EU pressure. Focuses on the potential billions in fines and global ripple effects—attention-grabbing for an industry audience—but treats child-safety concerns as secondary, reflecting a market-centric outlook.