Governing Addictive Design Features in AI-Driven Platforms: Regulatory Challenges and Pathways for Protecting Adolescent Digital Wellbeing in China

Chinese adolescents face significant mental health risks from addictive design features embedded in AI-driven digital platforms. Existing regulations inadequately address design-level addiction triggers in these environments, focusing primarily on content moderation and usage restrictions. This study identifies this gap and offers a novel framework that integrates systems theory and legal governance to regulate feedback loops between adolescents and digital platforms. Using the Adaptive Interaction Design Framework and a three-tiered typology of addictive design features, the research highlights how conceptual ambiguity and institutional fragmentation weaken regulatory efforts, resulting in reactive responses instead of proactive protection. To enhance regulatory effectiveness, this study recommends establishing a risk-tiered precautionary oversight system, providing enforceable definitions of addictive design features, mandating anti-addiction design practices and labeling, implementing economic measures like Pigouvian taxes, and fostering multi-stakeholder governance. It also emphasizes the need for cross-border coordination to address regulatory arbitrage. These policy directions aim to enhance regulatory efficacy and protect youth well-being in digital environments, contributing to ongoing international discussions on adolescent digital safety.