Ever wondered why you can open TikTok for five minutes and somehow lose an hour?
A Portuguese digital-rights group is taking Meta, TikTok and YouTube to court, accusing the platforms of deliberately using addictive design features to keep people online.
The lawsuits target features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, persistent notifications and highly personalized recommendations. The group argues that these systems encourage compulsive use and should be subject to stronger safeguards.
The case adds to growing global scrutiny of social-media platforms and the way their algorithms are designed to keep users engaged.
Basically, the question is no longer just “Why can’t I stop scrolling?”
It’s becoming: “Was the app designed so I wouldn’t?”
