BRUSSELS: The EU said Friday that TikTok needs to change its &quot;addictive design&quot; or risk heavy fines under the bloc&#39;s digital content rules, drawing a sharp pushback from the Chinese-owned platform. In preliminary conclusions of a probe opened two years ago, the European Commission said it found TikTok was not taking effective steps to address the app&#39;s negative impacts, especially on minors and vulnerable adults. &quot;TikTok&#39;s addictive design is in breach of the Digital Services Act,&quot; said commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, citing concerns with features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and a highly personalised recommender system. &quot;These features lead to the compulsive use of the app, especially for our kids, and this poses major risks to their mental health and wellbeing,&quot; Regnier said, adding: &quot;The measures that TikTok has in place are simply not enough.&quot; TikTok rejected the commission&#39;s findings, with a spokesperson saying it presented &quot;a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform&quot;. &quot;We will take whatever steps are necessary to challenge these findings through every means available to us,&quot; they added in a statement. Allies of US President Donald Trump in the US Congress said the European Commission&#39;s &quot;punitive actions&quot; were a pretext to curb political speech and pressure companies. The DSA is part of a bolstered legal armoury adopted by the EU in recent years to curb Big Tech&#39;s excesses, and officials had until now said TikTok was cooperating with the bloc&#39;s digital regulators. TikTok will now have access to the EU&#39;s findings in order to defend itself against the claims. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters that &quot;TikTok has to take actions, they have to change the design of their service in Europe to protect our minors and their wellbeing&quot;. The commission gave examples of what the platform could alter, such as: -- the platform&#39;s &quot;infinite scroll&quot; offering users an uninterrupted feed-- implementing effective &quot;screen time breaks&quot;, including during the night-- adapting its recommender system, the algorithms used by platforms to feed users more personalised content. &#39;Compulsive use&#39; of TikTokThe February 2024 investigation was the first opened into TikTok under the DSA, the bloc&#39;s powerful content moderation law that has faced the wrath of the US administration under President Donald Trump. In presenting the probe findings, Regnier cited what he called &quot;extremely alarming&quot; statistics on the app&#39;s use in the EU. TikTok was &quot;by far&quot; the most-used platform after midnight among children aged 13 to 18, he said, with seven percent of children aged 12 to 15 spending four to five hours daily on it. Brussels accused TikTok of disregarding &quot;important indicators of compulsive use of the app,&quot; such as the time minors spent on the platform at night. It also said TikTok had not implemented effective measures to mitigate risks, taking particular aim at screen-time management and parental-control tools. Its time management tools were &quot;easy to dismiss,&quot; including for young users, the commission found, while parental controls required &quot;additional time and skills from parents to introduce&quot; them. &#39;Safe by design&#39;The findings come as several European countries move to curb access to social media for younger teenagers, with officials weighing whether it is time to follow suit at the EU level. Briefing reporters on Friday, Virkkunen said her priority was to make platforms safe for all users, including children. &quot;Social media should be so safe by design that we shouldn&#39;t have that kind of very high age restriction,&quot; she said. If the regulator&#39;s views on TikTok are confirmed, the commission can impose a fine of up to six percent of the company&#39;s total worldwide annual turnover. The EU launched a separate probe into TikTok in December 2024 over alleged foreign interference in the Romanian presidential elections. EU spokesman Regnier said earlier this week that TikTok was &quot;extremely cooperative&quot; during that investigation and was taking measures to address the commission&#39;s concerns. He added that while the probe remained open, regulators could monitor how TikTok behaves during other elections.

This photograph shows a screen displaying the Tiktok social media platform's logo and the European flag on April 26, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France. The EU said on February 6, 2026, that it had told TikTok it needs to change its "addictive design" 

Gadgets

The European Commission said it found TikTok was not taking effective steps to address the app's negative impacts, especially on minors and vulnerable adults.

EU tells TikTok to change 'addictive' design

Angelina Duaa Hashir

The &ldquo;perfect wife&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t disappear with the 1950s. She adapted, rebranded, and logged into TikTok. This episode of Unladylike dives into how a postwar fantasy evolved into a glossy digital persona. The image that once sold soap now sells lifestyle coaching, domestic aesthetics, affiliate links, and a highly profitable version of submission. We examine the creators pushing this narrative, the businesses benefiting from it, and the tension between tradwife imagery and what women actually want for their lives. So the next time a tradwife you follow urges you to depend on your man, stop and ask: does she?

Unladylike

The “perfect wife” didn’t stay in the 1950s. She adapted, rebranded, and built a TikTok persona that sells soft lighting, sourdough… and submission.

Pretty little tradwives

<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;' id="isPasted">MADRID: A framework deal has been reached between China and the U.S. for the ownership of popular social video platform TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after weekend trade talks in Spain.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Bessent said in a press conference after the latest round of trade talks between the world&#39;s top two economies concluded in Madrid that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping would speak Friday to possibly finalize the deal. He said the objective of the deal would be to switch to U.S. ownership.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>&ldquo;We are not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal,&rdquo; Bessent said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s between two private parties. But the commercial terms have been agreed upon.&rdquo;<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Li Chenggang, China&#39;s international trade representative, said the two sides have reached &ldquo;basic framework consensus&rdquo; to properly solve TikTok-related issues in a cooperative way, reduce investment barriers and promote related economic and trade cooperation, according to China&#39;s official news agency Xinhua.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Li said the two sides had &ldquo;candid, in-depth&quot; discussions over TikTok and matters of concern to China.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>The meeting in Madrid is the fourth round of trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials since Trump launched a tariff war on Chinese goods in April. A fifth round of negotiations is likely to happen &ldquo;in the coming weeks,&rdquo; Bessent said, with both governments planning for a possible summit between Trump and Xi later this year or early next year to solidify a trade agreement.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>However, nothing has been confirmed, and analysts say possible trade bumps could delay the visit.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Chinese officials didn&#39;t immediately speak to the media following the Madrid talks, but Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who led the Chinese delegation, was seen smiling when he left the venue.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>During Joe Biden&rsquo;s Democratic presidency, Congress and the White House used national security grounds to approve a U.S. ban on TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sold its controlling stake.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly extended the deadline for shutting down TikTok, even though the law allows for just one 90-day reprieve, and only if there&rsquo;s a deal on the table and a formal notification to Congress.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>The current extension expires Wednesday, two days before Trump and Xi are scheduled to discuss the final details of the framework deal. Although Trump hasn&#39;t addressed the forthcoming deadline directly, he has claimed that he can delay the ban indefinitely.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>TikTok is one of more than 100 apps developed in the past decade by ByteDance, a technology firm founded in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneur Zhang Yiming and headquartered in Beijing&rsquo;s northwestern Haidian district.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>In 2016, ByteDance launched a short-form video platform called Douyin in China and followed up with an international version called TikTok. It then bought Musical.ly, a lip-syncing platform popular with teens in the U.S. and Europe, and combined it with TikTok while keeping the app separate from Douyin.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Soon after, the app boomed in popularity in the U.S. and many other countries, becoming the first Chinese platform to make serious inroads in the West. Unlike other social media platforms that focused on cultivating connections among users, TikTok tailored content to people&rsquo;s interests.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>The often silly videos and music clips content creators posted gave TikTok an image as a sunny corner of the internet where users could find fun and a sense of authenticity. Finding an audience on the platform helped launch the careers of music artists like Lil Nas X.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>TikTok gained more traction during the shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, when short dances that went viral became a mainstay of the app. To better compete, Instagram and YouTube eventually came out with their own tools for making short-form videos, respectively known as Reels and Shorts. By that point, TikTok was a bona fide hit.<p style='box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: calc(-6px + 1.75rem); padding: 0.2rem 0px 0.8rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: "AP Font", "AP Font Local", Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>Challenges came in tandem with TikTok&rsquo;s success. U.S. officials expressed concerns about the company&rsquo;s roots and ownership, pointing to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government. Another concern became the proprietary algorithm that populates what users see on the app.

Americas

China

U.S. and China strike TikTok ownership framework, with Trump and Xi to finalize details amid ongoing trade talks.

Articles tagged with "tiktok"

EU tells TikTok to change 'addictive' design

Pretty little tradwives

A framework deal on TikTok has been reached between the US and China