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TikTok's signature features that hooked users around the world are its algorithm and endless scroll. Now, though, the European Union has called those aspects of the app illegal and may order the company to alter them.
"Today, the European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act for its addictive design," the EU's regulator said in a press release. "This includes features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and its highly personalized recommender system." It said that TikTok failed to put up safeguards to ensure that those "addictive" features don't "harm the physical and mental wellbeing of users," including minors.
"For example, by constantly ‘rewarding' users with new content, certain design features of TikTok fuel the urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain of users into ‘autopilot mode'. Scientific research shows that this may lead to compulsive behaviour and reduce users' self-control," the regulators stated.
TikTok's current parental controls and features to limit screen time are insufficient, the Commission added, and TikTok may need to modify them. The platform may also be required to limit its infinite scroll and adjust its recommendation algorithms.
The EU Commission will give TikTok an opportunity to rebut the findings and the company said would use "any means available" to challenge them. "The commission's preliminary findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform," the company told
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With over 155 million sold, Nintendo's Switch is officially the company's biggest console hit ever. It's been a long road to surpassing the DS, which reached 154 million consoles over its seven-year lifespan. The Switch, meanwhile, is a year shy of its 10-year anniversary.
We've seen the original console, the non-hybrid Lite and the OLED versions of the Switch over the decade, but despite being replaced by Switch 2, the original is still selling at a strong pace: 1.36 million units in Q3. Just think how many Joy-Cons it sold/replaced?
Next goal: try to be the best-selling console of all time. Currently, that's the PlayStation 2.
Nintendo is just shy of five million units to go.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missedEverything we know about Valve's new Steam Machine
Apple AirTag (2026) review: Simply better
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A group of cryptocurrency investors backing a memecoin hopes the statue will soon be installed at one of Mr. Trump's golf courses in Florida.
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 RR Auction has announced that an Apple check signed by the company's co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak fetched a whopping $2.4 million at auction this week. The check was for $500, meaning that it sold for 4,800× its original value.
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For generations, the all-female Haenyeo divers have routinely dove into frigid waters off the coast of South Korea, holding their breath for minutes at a time, as they collect seafood to eat and sell. These women start diving as girls and continue well into old age. And recent research suggests that it's not just years of training that makes this feat possible - it's also a set of special genetic adaptations. Science reporter Ari Daniel brings us the story.
Read more of Ari's reporting here.
Have another story about biology and genetics for us to consider? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
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