By AFP
February 6, 2026
The European Commission launched the probe into TikTok under its content law, the Digital Services Act, in February 2024 - Copyright AFP Adnan Beci
Raziye Akkoc
The EU said Friday that it had told TikTok it needs to change its “addictive design” or risk heavy fines, after the Chinese-owned platform was found in breach of the bloc’s digital content rules.
The European Commission, announcing preliminary conclusions of a probe opened two years ago, said it found TikTok was not taking effective steps to address negative impacts from some of its features, especially for young people and children.
It said TikTok was believed to be “in breach of the Digital Services Act for its addictive design”, including through features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and a highly personalised recommender system.
The commission said its probe so far indicated that TikTok did too little to “assess how these addictive features could harm the physical and mental wellbeing of its users, including minors and vulnerable adults”.
To address the concerns — and avoid the risk of hefty fines — EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters that “TikTok has to take actions, they have to change the design of their service in Europe to protect our minors and their wellbeing.”
The commission gave examples of what the platform could alter, such as:
— the platform’s “infinite scroll” offering users an uninterrupted feed
— implementing effective “screen time breaks”, including during the night
— adapting its recommender system, the algorithms used by platforms to feed users more personalised content.
– ‘Compulsive use’ of TikTok –
The February 2024 investigation was the first opened into TikTok under the DSA, the bloc’s powerful content moderation law that has faced the wrath of the US administration under President Donald Trump.
The DSA is part of a bolstered legal armoury adopted by the EU in recent years to curb Big Tech’s excesses, and officials have said TikTok has been cooperating with the bloc’s digital regulators so far.
The commission findings raised concerns about TikTok design features that “fuel the urge to keep scrolling”.
Brussels accused TikTok of disregarding “important indicators of compulsive use of the app” such as the time spent on the platform by children 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.
The commission found that TikTok’s time management tools were “easy to dismiss” including for young users, while parental controls required “additional time and skills from parents to introduce” them.
– ‘Extremely cooperative’ –
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 EU level.
Briefing reporters Friday, Virkkunen said her priority was to make platforms safe for all users, children included.
“Social media should be so safe by design that we shouldn’t have that kind of very high age restriction,” she said.
TikTok may now access the EU’s files and defend itself against the claims.
If the regulator’s views are confirmed, the commission can impose a fine of up to six percent of the company’s total worldwide annual turnover.
The EU began a separate probe into TikTok in December 2024 on alleged foreign interference during the Romanian presidential elections.
EU digital affairs spokesman Thomas Regnier said Wednesday that TikTok had been “extremely cooperative” with regulators during that investigation and had been taking measures to address the commission’s concerns.
Regnier added that while the probe remained open, regulators could monitor how TikTok behaves during other elections.
Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection
By AFP
February 7, 2026
Instagram and its parent company Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, have been accused of addicting young users of the social media app, to the detriment of their mental health - Copyright AFP DAVID GRAY
Benjamin LEGENDRE
A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta’s divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta’s lawyers fought for six days in court to remove jurors who they deemed overly hostile to Facebook and Instagram, two of the social media platforms involved in the case.
The plaintiff’s lawyers sought to dismiss people, mostly men, who believed that young internet users’ mental health issues are more attributable to parental failures rather than tech platform designers.
With the jury of 12 members and six alternates approved on Friday, arguments in the case are now scheduled to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The case is being called a bellwether proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
Defendants at the trial are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram. TikTok and Snapchat were also accused, but have since settled for an undisclosed amount.
The trial focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.
She accuses Meta and YouTube of knowingly designing addictive apps, to the detriment of her mental health.
– ‘Start fairly’ –
Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film “The Social Network.”
“I feel impartial toward the plaintiff, but based on things Mark Zuckerberg has done objectively — I have strong feelings about — and I think the defendant would start further behind,” said one young woman.
Many potential jurors criticized Facebook’s early days — it was designed as a platform for college students to rate women’s looks — and cited the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach of 2018.
They also said it would be difficult for them to accept the billionaire’s testimony — expected in the next two weeks — without prejudice.
Meta’s lawyer, Phyllis Jones, raised frequent objections to such jurors.
She said it was “very important that both sides start fairly, with no disadvantage, that you look at the evidence fairly and decide.”
Others were dismissed for the opposite reason.
“I like this guy,” said one rare Zuckerberg fan. “I regret not owning Meta shares.”
He was dismissed by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier.
Others to be removed included a man who expressed his anger against psychiatrists, and several people whose loved ones suffered from social media addiction or harassment.
– Seeking distance –
Alphabet’s lawyers were keen to ensure that their platform YouTube was not lumped in with Meta.
“Does everybody understand that YouTube and Meta are very different companies? Does everyone understand that (Zuckerberg) doesn’t run YouTube?” asked Luis Li, a lawyer for Google’s video platform.
One man said he saw the potential for YouTube to seek to trigger “immediate dopamine” rushes among users through its “Shorts” feature.
He said his niece spends too much time on TikTok, which popularized a platform that provides endless scrolling of ultra-short-format videos.
The case will focus not on content, on which front platforms are largely protected by US law, but on the design of algorithms and personalization features.
The plaintiffs allege that the platforms are negligent and purposely designed to be harmful, echoing a strategy successfully used against the tobacco industry.
Meta and YouTube strongly deny the allegations, and also unsuccessfully argued on Friday for the judge to declare statements comparing their platforms to tobacco and other addictive products to be illegitimate.
The debate on the platform’s level of responsibility for their effect on users was already underway, even at this early stage of the trial.
Alphabet’s lawyer Li asked the panel if people spend too much time on phones, with the majority nodding in agreement.
“As a society, is it a problem?” he asked, with most hands again going up.
He then asked if this is “because of YouTube?” prompting hesitation from the jurors.
By AFP
February 7, 2026
Instagram and its parent company Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, have been accused of addicting young users of the social media app, to the detriment of their mental health - Copyright AFP DAVID GRAY
Benjamin LEGENDRE
A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta’s divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta’s lawyers fought for six days in court to remove jurors who they deemed overly hostile to Facebook and Instagram, two of the social media platforms involved in the case.
The plaintiff’s lawyers sought to dismiss people, mostly men, who believed that young internet users’ mental health issues are more attributable to parental failures rather than tech platform designers.
With the jury of 12 members and six alternates approved on Friday, arguments in the case are now scheduled to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The case is being called a bellwether proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
Defendants at the trial are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram. TikTok and Snapchat were also accused, but have since settled for an undisclosed amount.
The trial focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.
She accuses Meta and YouTube of knowingly designing addictive apps, to the detriment of her mental health.
– ‘Start fairly’ –
Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film “The Social Network.”
“I feel impartial toward the plaintiff, but based on things Mark Zuckerberg has done objectively — I have strong feelings about — and I think the defendant would start further behind,” said one young woman.
Many potential jurors criticized Facebook’s early days — it was designed as a platform for college students to rate women’s looks — and cited the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach of 2018.
They also said it would be difficult for them to accept the billionaire’s testimony — expected in the next two weeks — without prejudice.
Meta’s lawyer, Phyllis Jones, raised frequent objections to such jurors.
She said it was “very important that both sides start fairly, with no disadvantage, that you look at the evidence fairly and decide.”
Others were dismissed for the opposite reason.
“I like this guy,” said one rare Zuckerberg fan. “I regret not owning Meta shares.”
He was dismissed by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier.
Others to be removed included a man who expressed his anger against psychiatrists, and several people whose loved ones suffered from social media addiction or harassment.
– Seeking distance –
Alphabet’s lawyers were keen to ensure that their platform YouTube was not lumped in with Meta.
“Does everybody understand that YouTube and Meta are very different companies? Does everyone understand that (Zuckerberg) doesn’t run YouTube?” asked Luis Li, a lawyer for Google’s video platform.
One man said he saw the potential for YouTube to seek to trigger “immediate dopamine” rushes among users through its “Shorts” feature.
He said his niece spends too much time on TikTok, which popularized a platform that provides endless scrolling of ultra-short-format videos.
The case will focus not on content, on which front platforms are largely protected by US law, but on the design of algorithms and personalization features.
The plaintiffs allege that the platforms are negligent and purposely designed to be harmful, echoing a strategy successfully used against the tobacco industry.
Meta and YouTube strongly deny the allegations, and also unsuccessfully argued on Friday for the judge to declare statements comparing their platforms to tobacco and other addictive products to be illegitimate.
The debate on the platform’s level of responsibility for their effect on users was already underway, even at this early stage of the trial.
Alphabet’s lawyer Li asked the panel if people spend too much time on phones, with the majority nodding in agreement.
“As a society, is it a problem?” he asked, with most hands again going up.
He then asked if this is “because of YouTube?” prompting hesitation from the jurors.
Telegram founder slams Spain PM over under-16s social media ban
By AFP
February 4, 2026
Telegram founder Pavel Durov warned a proposed social media ban for under-16s 'could turn Spain into a surveillance state' - Copyright AFP/File Yuri KADOBNOV
Telegram founder Pavel Durov on Wednesday joined fellow tech tycoon Elon Musk in slamming Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over his “dangerous” plan to ban social media for under-16s.
The Socialist leader announced a series of measures in Dubai on Tuesday to protect Spanish minors from harmful social media content such as violence and pornography.
As well as the ban, Sanchez pledged to change Spanish law to make the chief executives of tech platforms “face criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content”.
Durov spoke of “dangerous new regulations that threaten your internet freedoms” in a Wednesday post on his Telegram messaging app, which has an estimated billion users and is known for its privacy features.
“These measures could turn Spain into a surveillance state under the guise of ‘protection’,” he wrote, saying mass data collection and censorship would result from their enforcement.
Musk reacted to the announcement with a string of posts on his social media platform X on Tuesday, calling Sanchez “dirty”, a “tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain” and “the true fascist totalitarian”.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss had already been embroiled in a public spat with Sanchez over his government’s regularisation of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.
Spain’s move to ban social media for under-16s came after Australia became the first country to introduce such a measure in December.
France, Greece and Denmark have been leading a push for similar steps in the European Union.
By AFP
February 4, 2026
Telegram founder Pavel Durov warned a proposed social media ban for under-16s 'could turn Spain into a surveillance state' - Copyright AFP/File Yuri KADOBNOV
Telegram founder Pavel Durov on Wednesday joined fellow tech tycoon Elon Musk in slamming Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over his “dangerous” plan to ban social media for under-16s.
The Socialist leader announced a series of measures in Dubai on Tuesday to protect Spanish minors from harmful social media content such as violence and pornography.
As well as the ban, Sanchez pledged to change Spanish law to make the chief executives of tech platforms “face criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content”.
Durov spoke of “dangerous new regulations that threaten your internet freedoms” in a Wednesday post on his Telegram messaging app, which has an estimated billion users and is known for its privacy features.
“These measures could turn Spain into a surveillance state under the guise of ‘protection’,” he wrote, saying mass data collection and censorship would result from their enforcement.
Musk reacted to the announcement with a string of posts on his social media platform X on Tuesday, calling Sanchez “dirty”, a “tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain” and “the true fascist totalitarian”.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss had already been embroiled in a public spat with Sanchez over his government’s regularisation of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.
Spain’s move to ban social media for under-16s came after Australia became the first country to introduce such a measure in December.
France, Greece and Denmark have been leading a push for similar steps in the European Union.
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