Infinite scrolling

Infinite scrolling is a practice in which businesses design their websites and applications to automatically load new content as the user approaches the end of a page, replacing pagination with an endless feed. It is used as a retention mechanism, keeping users on a service for longer by removing natural stopping points. This technique is regarded as a dark pattern, and has been named in lawsuits brought against major social media companies by United States regulators and city authorities.

How it works

Traditional web pages divide long lists of content into numbered pages. When a reader reaches the bottom of a page, they must make an explicit choice to continue, by clicking a "next page" link. That moment of choice is known as a stopping cue, and it gives the reader a natural opportunity to decide whether they actually want to keep reading.

Aza Raskin, who popularised the technique for desktop browsing in 2006 while at the interface design consultancy Humanized, has since expressed regret over its spread. He stated that the feature works by denying the brain time to register that a task is finished, and has described the way social media platforms have subsequently deployed it alongside algorithmic feeds as akin to sprinkling behavioural cocaine over an interface.

The effect is amplified when the technique is paired with other features. Recommendation algorithms decide what loads next, so the reader cannot predict what they will see; researchers drawing on the psychology of gambling have compared this variable reward structure to slot machines.

Autoplaying video extends the same principle to time-based media, starting the next clip before the viewer has chosen to watch it. In many implementations, the page footer is effectively unreachable, because new content loads before the reader can reach the bottom of the page, which can make legal notices and account settings difficult to access.

Why it is a problem

Removal of consumer choice

The clearest harm is the removal of the reader's ability to decide when to stop. Traditional pagination forces a decision at regular intervals; infinite scrolling replaces that decision with continuous motion. The result is that users routinely spend longer on a service than they intended to, which is precisely the point. The feature is not deployed for the reader's convenience, but because engagement metrics, such as time on site, daily active users and impressions served, are the currency of the advertising-funded internet, and every additional minute of scrolling is monetised. Several United States attorneys general have alleged that the technique functions as a retention mechanism aimed at keeping users, particularly children and teenagers, on platforms for longer than they would otherwise remain.

Disproportionate effect on young users

Because adolescents are still developing the impulse control required to disengage, the pattern's effects fall hardest on them. This is not merely an advocacy position: lawsuits filed by a coalition of 42 attorneys general in 2023, and by the City of New York in 2024, specifically allege that infinite scrolling was among the design features used to keep minors engaged on social media platforms, with consequences for their mental health described by New York officials as a youth mental health crisis.

The litigation has since produced results: in August 2026, a coalition of 51 states announced a proposed settlement, subject to court approval, under which Meta will pay at least $12.1 billion to the states over ten years, with an additional $5 billion payable if other major social media companies adopt comparable safety measures, bringing the total to as much as $17.1 billion. The settlement also requires changes to Meta's products, including a block on overnight use by young users that can only be lifted by a parent, enhanced parental supervision tools, age assurance measures, and an independent auditor to oversee compliance.

Regardless of the settlement's scale, the pattern raises a structural problem: a design choice that modestly benefits all users in convenience imposes serious costs on a subset of them, and the people bearing those costs are not the ones who made, or profited from, the choice.

Examples

TikTok

TikTok, operated by ByteDance, is built entirely around the pattern. Its "For You" feed presents one video at a time, loading new content as soon as the current clip ends or the viewer swipes past it; the feed has no end point, and no screen within it asks the viewer whether they wish to continue. The platform has drawn sustained regulatory attention over the technique. New York City named TikTok first among the defendants in its 2024 lawsuit, alleging that infinite scrolling was among the features used to manipulate and addict young users, and the Arizona attorney general filed a separate consumer-protection lawsuit in October 2026 accusing the company of intentionally designing addictive features.

Instagram Reels

Instagram's Reels feature, introduced in 2020, replicates the same structure: a vertical feed of short videos that loads indefinitely, seeded by a recommendation algorithm rather than the user's own choices. The platform is a defendant in both the New York City lawsuit and the 2023 attorneys general litigation. The Massachusetts attorney general's complaint named Instagram's infinite scrolling and autoplay specifically, alleging the features were designed to keep children on the platform. In October 2024, the Suffolk County Superior Court rejected Meta's attempt to have the case dismissed, finding that the claims concerned the company's own conduct rather than user-generated content.

YouTube & Netflix

YouTube's video recommendation interface employs infinite scrolling, loading new video suggestions as the viewer approaches the bottom of the page. The feature is paired with autoplay functionality that begins the next video without the viewer choosing to continue, creating a continuous consumption loop. Netflix applies similar principles to episodic content, where the next episode begins automatically after the current one finishes, effectively removing the stopping cue at season breaks as well as episode transitions.

Regulatory attention

Beyond litigation, infinite scrolling has attracted regulatory attention in the United States and the European Union. The United States Federal Trade Commission has treated dark patterns as an enforcement priority in its negative-option marketing rules, though its Click-to-cancel rule was vacated by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2025 on procedural grounds. In the European Union, Article 25 of the Digital Services Act prohibits online platforms from designing their interfaces in ways that deceive or manipulate users, and the European Commission's Digital Fairness Act proposal, anticipated in November 2026, explicitly identifies infinite scrolling among the addictive design features it targets.