EU opens probe of TikTok Lite, citing concerns about addictive design

I think everyone scratching at their throats and arguing &quot;I&#x27;m not addicted - YOU&#x27;RE addicted to X&quot; might be missing the forest for the trees.<p>It seems very plausible to me that there has been a Rubicon passed that has to be grappled with. There was an order of magnitude difference between opium and the development of heroin. Or tobacco and the cigarette.<p>TikTok did not invent the addictive parasocial content scroll. But it might represent a new <i>concentration</i> where we might really start grappling with the reality of what is happening to our brains when we use these services.

This has nothing to do with the technology. Everyone knows that social media is addictive, manipulative &amp; bad for peoples mental health. TikTok is no worse than fb, instagram, twitter or youtube (which is aping it) etc.<p>This is about who owns it:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politico.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;2024&#x2F;03&#x2F;14&#x2F;steve-mnuchin-tiktok-00146966" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politico.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;2024&#x2F;03&#x2F;14&#x2F;steve-mnuchin-tikto...</a>

I don’t understand why things like design are being discussed or debated. All these countries are wasting time on minor things instead of just doing what is needed, which is an outright ban. So far, only India has got this right.<p>All Chinese linked social media apps should be banned due to risks to user privacy, national security, and lack of reciprocal market access. This ban should also apply to apps headquartered outside of China (like the US or EU) that have leadership with Chinese citizenry (not ethnicity but nationality). In the case of TikTok, divestment is not enough to guarantee anything - after all they allegedly lied under oath about where US data is stored:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;alexandralevine&#x2F;2023&#x2F;06&#x2F;21&#x2F;tiktok-confirms-data-china-bytedance-security-cfius&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;alexandralevine&#x2F;2023&#x2F;06&#x2F;21&#x2F;tikt...</a><p>So what will divestment accomplish? What if key leaders or employees can be influenced or blackmailed by the CCP to do unethical things like sharing data or running algorithmic propaganda campaigns or whatever?

I&#x27;m a little disappointed about this probe. They are concerned that paying users points could be an addictive design, which seems like it&#x27;s not, it&#x27;s work, in a sense. They would not need the points if the design is addictive.<p>If anything they should look into the general doom scrolling design of Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok and YouTube Shorts. All of these have addictive design patterns, without any sort of payoff.<p>Maybe TikTok Lite is just the initial probe, where they seem more certain of getting the desired outcome, as it can be massaged to piggy back on the EU ban on loot crated. If that probe is then successful, they could then more easily go after other platforms which works like TikTok Lite and then just claim that the payments is an implementation detail.<p>In any case I&#x27;d like to see the EU consider bans or restriction on platforms that pray on human psychology, stealing users attention for hours a day, only to attempt to push ads for questionable products. I surprises me that anyone willingly work on product like TikTok or YouTube Shorts.

One of the issues seems to be about the TikTok Lite app&#x27;s potential mental health risks. How does one even quantify that? And by who&#x27;s measure?

Very sus, especially the timing, where is the same claim regarding Instagram or Snapchat?

&gt; Commenting on the Commission’s enforcement action in a statement, Thierry Breton, the commissioner for the EU Internal Market, wrote: “… We suspect TikTok ‘Lite’ could be as toxic and addictive as cigarettes ‘light’. Unless TikTok provides compelling proof of its safety, which it has failed to do until now, we stand ready to trigger DSA interim measures including the suspension of TikTok Lite feature which we suspect could generate addiction. We will spare no effort to protect our children.”<p>can someone please think of the children?<p>a bit more seriously:<p>1. are there any studies into the harms of cigarettes vs harms of tiktok lite&#x2F;social media?<p>2. does the DSA’s “risk assessment” cover risks to EU users only or EU businesses as well?<p>3. are there any steps taken to make sure we won’t have politicians abuse the DSA to target unfriendly companies? specifically forbidding of micro managing various features and products by the politicians of the day? or is the DSA exactly this?

And what about facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube... NATO are losing their control in propaganda and they are afraid because they cannot spread its disinformation through tiktok.. This is not a justification to adictive social media but their hypocrisy is unhideable