EU warns TikTok’s ‘addictive design’ poses serious mental health risks to children

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Brussels investigation highlights infinite scrolling and autoplay as potential violations of the Digital Services Act, with the threat of massive fines looming

Olatz Hernández

Friday, 6 February 2026, 15:32

As the debate intensifies over Spain's PM Pedro Sanchéz's proposal to ban social media for under-16s, Brussels has turned the spotlight on TikTok over what it describes as the platform's "addictive design".

Preliminary studies from a European Commission investigation warn that features such as infinite scrolling, video autoplay, push notifications and personalised recommendation algorithms could harm users' physical and mental health, particularly that of minors and other vulnerable groups.

According to Brussles, TikTok fails to address the addiction risk it poses by "constantly rewarding users with new content", which "triggers the need to continue consuming content and puts users' brains into 'automatic mode'". The study concludes that the social platform does not implement effective measures to mitigate these risks.

Commission sources say that they have "sufficient reason to believe" that the video platform "has violated" the EU Digital Services Act. The body believes that TikTok has the capacity to adapt, "reducing notifications and putting an end to infinite scrolling, with mandatory limits on use and a total block at night to avoid sleep deprivation".

According to the EU study, parents alone cannot prevent social media addiction. It considers tools that limit TikTok "ineffective in reducing app use", because "they are easy to ignore". Parental controls also do not appear to be effective because they "require additional time and skills on the part of parents".

TikTok now has the right to defend itself with a written reply to the Commission. If Brussels confirms its preliminary findings, it could issue a non-compliance decision, which would trigger a fine proportionate to the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement and could be up to six per cent of the company's annual turnover.