The European Union has fired what may be its most consequential shot yet in the global battle over social media regulation, ordering TikTok to disable core features that regulators say are deliberately engineered to hook users — particularly minors — into compulsive, endless engagement. The directive targets the very architecture that made TikTok the most downloaded app on the planet: its infinite scroll mechanism and its algorithmically driven recommendation engine.

The order, reported by TechCrunch, represents a dramatic escalation in Brussels’ enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the sweeping regulatory framework that took full effect in 2024 and has since become the most ambitious attempt by any jurisdiction to impose structural obligations on the world’s largest technology platforms. For TikTok, the implications are existential — not because the app will be banned, but because regulators are demanding changes to the product mechanics that define the user experience itself.

The EU’s Regulatory Arsenal Takes Aim at Algorithmic Addiction

At the heart of the EU’s enforcement action is a finding that TikTok’s design features constitute what regulators have termed “addictive design patterns” — interface choices that exploit psychological vulnerabilities to maximize time spent on the platform. Infinite scroll, the feature that eliminates natural stopping points by continuously loading new content as a user swipes, has long been criticized by child safety advocates, psychologists, and lawmakers as a mechanism that overrides users’ ability to self-regulate their consumption. The recommendation engine, TikTok’s proprietary algorithm that curates a hyper-personalized “For You” feed, is the other pillar under scrutiny. Together, these features create what behavioral scientists describe as a variable-ratio reinforcement schedule — the same psychological principle that makes slot machines addictive.

European Commission officials have made clear that the action is rooted in the DSA’s provisions requiring very large online platforms (VLOPs) to assess and mitigate systemic risks, including risks to the mental health and well-being of minors. TikTok was designated as a VLOP in April 2023, subjecting it to the DSA’s most stringent obligations. The Commission opened a formal investigation into TikTok in February 2024, initially focusing on child protection, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers. The current enforcement action appears to be the culmination of that investigation, with regulators concluding that TikTok’s voluntary measures — including screen time reminders and optional content filters — have been insufficient to address the platform’s inherent design risks.

What TikTok Must Actually Change — and Why It Matters

The specifics of the EU’s order are striking in their granularity. TikTok is being required to disable infinite scroll for users in the European Union, replacing it with a design that introduces deliberate friction — such as requiring users to actively choose to load more content after a defined number of posts. The recommendation engine must also be modified so that users are presented with a genuine, easily accessible option to use the platform without algorithmic curation, effectively offering a chronological or non-personalized feed as a default alternative. These are not cosmetic tweaks. They strike at the core product decisions that have driven TikTok’s meteoric growth and its ability to capture an outsized share of global attention, particularly among users under the age of 25.

TikTok has publicly stated that it disagrees with the Commission’s characterization of its features and intends to engage with regulators to find a proportionate path forward. The company has pointed to its existing suite of well-being tools, including daily screen time limits for users under 18, which were set at 60 minutes by default in 2023, and its “Take a Break” reminders. But EU officials have signaled that opt-in safety features are not enough when the underlying product architecture is designed to maximize engagement. The regulatory philosophy underpinning the DSA is that platforms bear responsibility for the systemic effects of their design choices, not merely for individual pieces of content.

A Precedent That Extends Far Beyond TikTok

Industry observers and legal analysts say the implications of the EU’s action extend well beyond ByteDance’s flagship app. If Brussels successfully compels TikTok to fundamentally alter its recommendation engine and scroll mechanics, the precedent will apply with equal force to every platform designated as a VLOP under the DSA — a list that includes Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Google’s YouTube, Snapchat, and X (formerly Twitter). Each of these platforms relies on some combination of infinite scroll and algorithmic content curation to drive engagement. Instagram’s Reels feature, YouTube’s Shorts, and even X’s “For You” tab are all architecturally similar to TikTok’s core experience. A ruling that these design patterns constitute systemic risks under the DSA would amount to a regulatory reclassification of the dominant business model in consumer technology.

The financial stakes are enormous. TikTok’s advertising revenue in Europe was estimated at over $6 billion in 2025, according to industry analysts, and the platform’s ability to command premium ad rates is directly tied to the depth and duration of user engagement. A version of TikTok without infinite scroll and without a personalized recommendation engine is, in commercial terms, a fundamentally different product — one that may struggle to deliver the same engagement metrics that advertisers pay for. Wall Street analysts covering publicly traded competitors have already begun modeling scenarios in which similar regulatory actions are applied to Meta and Alphabet, with potential revenue impacts ranging from modest to severe depending on the scope of required changes.

The Transatlantic Divide on Platform Regulation Widens

The EU’s action also highlights the widening gap between European and American approaches to technology regulation. In the United States, legislative efforts to address social media’s effects on children — including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) — have advanced through congressional committees but have repeatedly stalled amid debates over free speech, federal authority, and industry lobbying. Several U.S. states, including Utah, Arkansas, and California, have passed their own laws targeting minors’ access to social media, but none have gone as far as ordering the removal of specific product features like infinite scroll or algorithmic recommendations. The EU’s willingness to mandate structural product changes represents a fundamentally different theory of regulation: one that treats platform design as a public health issue rather than a matter of individual consumer choice.

China, where ByteDance is headquartered, has its own stringent regulations on minors’ use of social media, including hard time limits and curfews on app usage for users under 18. The domestic version of TikTok, known as Douyin, already operates under restrictions that are in some respects more severe than what the EU is now proposing. This creates a paradoxical situation in which TikTok’s most permissive, engagement-maximizing version of its product has been reserved for Western markets — a fact that has not been lost on European regulators or on U.S. lawmakers who have cited it in hearings on the platform’s operations.

Child Safety Advocates Applaud, but Warn of Enforcement Gaps

Child safety organizations across Europe have largely welcomed the EU’s action, while cautioning that enforcement will be the true test of its effectiveness. Organizations such as 5Rights Foundation, which has been influential in shaping the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code and has consulted with EU policymakers on the DSA’s implementation, have argued that addictive design patterns are not incidental but central to the business models of attention-economy platforms. Baroness Beeban Kidron, the founder of 5Rights, has repeatedly testified before European and British parliamentary bodies that voluntary industry commitments to child safety have consistently failed to produce meaningful change, and that only binding, enforceable design mandates can shift the incentive structure.

The enforcement mechanism under the DSA is significant. The European Commission has the authority to impose fines of up to 6% of a company’s global annual turnover for non-compliance — a figure that, in TikTok’s case, could amount to billions of dollars. Beyond fines, the Commission can issue periodic penalty payments and, in extreme cases, seek interim measures including temporary restrictions on service in the EU. TikTok’s response in the coming weeks and months will be closely watched not only by regulators and competitors, but by the global investment community, which is increasingly pricing regulatory risk into valuations of technology companies with significant European exposure.

The Technical and Commercial Challenges of Compliance

From a product engineering standpoint, the EU’s requirements present TikTok with nontrivial technical challenges. The recommendation algorithm is not a feature that can simply be toggled off; it is deeply integrated into every layer of the platform’s content delivery infrastructure, from video encoding and caching to creator monetization and advertising targeting. Offering a genuinely non-algorithmic feed — one that does not quietly reintroduce personalization through secondary signals — will require significant architectural changes and independent auditing. The Commission has indicated that it expects TikTok to provide access to its systems for vetted researchers and auditors, a provision that ByteDance has historically resisted on grounds of trade secret protection.

The commercial implications for TikTok’s creator economy are also substantial. The platform’s recommendation engine is the primary mechanism by which new and small creators gain visibility; without it, content distribution would likely revert to a follower-based model that favors established accounts, fundamentally altering the competitive dynamics that have made TikTok attractive to a new generation of digital entrepreneurs. Creator advocacy groups have expressed concern that a less personalized TikTok could reduce earning potential for millions of users who depend on the algorithm to surface their content to new audiences.

What Comes Next for Global Tech Regulation

The EU’s move against TikTok’s addictive features is not an isolated event but part of a broader regulatory offensive that is accelerating across multiple fronts. The Commission is simultaneously pursuing DSA enforcement actions against X over content moderation failures and against Meta over its pay-or-consent advertising model. The cumulative effect of these actions is to establish the EU as the de facto global standard-setter for platform governance — a role that Brussels has explicitly sought and that the technology industry has both feared and, in some cases, quietly welcomed as a source of regulatory certainty.

For TikTok, the path forward is fraught with strategic complexity. Complying fully with the EU’s demands risks degrading the product experience that has driven its growth, potentially pushing users to competing platforms that have not yet been subject to equivalent enforcement. Resisting compliance risks massive fines and reputational damage in one of the world’s largest and most lucrative digital markets. The most likely outcome, according to regulatory affairs specialists, is a protracted negotiation in which TikTok proposes modified versions of its features — perhaps introducing more aggressive screen time defaults, age-gated algorithmic settings, or hybrid feed options — in an effort to satisfy the Commission’s concerns without dismantling the core product. Whether Brussels will accept anything short of full compliance remains to be seen, but the signal has been sent: the era of unchecked algorithmic engagement is drawing to a close in Europe, and the rest of the world is watching.