Brussels proposes ‘Are you still scrolling?’ prompt every 45 seconds on TikTok

Brussels has proposed new rules that would force TikTok to display a full-screen “Are you still scrolling?” confirmation prompt every 45 seconds to users in the European Union, according to a draft text seen by reporters. The measure is the latest step in the European Commission’s probe into what it calls TikTok’s “structurally addictive design,” opened under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

“The default option would be set to “No, I should probably stop,” which users could override only after reading a 37-word health disclaimer.”

Under the proposal, TikTok users would be required to provide a “conscious, intentional confirmation of continued scrolling” by tapping a button or typing a short response, the document states. The default option would be set to “No, I should probably stop,” which users could override only after reading a 37-word health disclaimer.

A Commission spokesperson said the 45-second interval was chosen after internal modelling suggested it would “break the hypnotic continuity of infinite feeds” while remaining “compatible with the average European attention span of 47 seconds.” The same analysis concluded that without intervention, an EU user could scroll continuously for up to 6.3 hours “without registering the passage of time in a legally meaningful way.”

TikTok’s owner ByteDance warned the measure could “fundamentally alter the user experience” and reduce what it calls “moments of joy per minute” by up to 83%, according to an internal memo summarizing the company’s initial impact assessment. “Forcing users to confirm they are still scrolling every 45 seconds risks driving young Europeans back to unregulated offline distractions,” the memo said, citing board games and “unsupervised outdoor play” as examples.

The draft rules envision fines of up to 6% of TikTok’s global annual turnover for “unprompted scrolling events” where the confirmation message is not shown as required. EU regulators would receive hourly reports detailing the exact number of prompts served, dismissed, ignored, or rage-closed, broken down by age, region, and “average thumb fatigue index.”

Analysts at JPMorgan said the move could result in a “material increase in friction per session,” estimating that a highly active 14-year-old user might face as many as 1,920 prompts per day. Influencer marketing agencies are already advising clients to add “smash that continue button so you don’t lose this video” to their scripts to limit engagement losses, according to an industry briefing note.

The Commission is also considering a follow-up requirement that platforms display a “Maybe go outside for a bit” notification after seven minutes of continuous use, people familiar with the talks said. Officials aim to finalise the TikTok rules by year-end, with a broader framework for “scroll neutrality” across major platforms pencilled in for 2030, subject to further impact studies on “the minimum viable dose of boredom” for EU citizens.