EU accuses TikTok of harmful 'rabbit hole' feed, warns of fines
Preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act say the app keeps recommending similar videos, including content on sadness, isolation and body image.
The European Commission told TikTok on Friday to change the design of its For You feed, saying preliminary evidence shows the recommendation system can push children and vulnerable users into "rabbit holes" of increasingly harmful content, and warned that large fines under the bloc's digital rules remain on the table.
In a statement, the Commission said TikTok's algorithm recommends more of the same kind of video the more a user engages with it. "This design can be harmful when such endless and repeated exposure involves, for example, content about sadness, isolation or body image," it said, according to Euronews.
The findings are preliminary and form part of an investigation opened more than two years ago under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU rulebook that sets legal obligations for large online platforms. Dawn reported that regulators said TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance risks a fine next year of up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover unless the issue is resolved.
TikTok rejected the findings. A spokesperson told Euronews that the Commission had made "a series of statements that are fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform's architecture and our commitment to user safety", adding that the company has a strong record of protecting its community while giving users direct control over their content experience.
Euronews reported that TikTok's algorithm continues to recommend similar videos even when users indicate they are not interested in a subject. The Commission said the company had taken some steps to address the risks but they had not been effective enough.
Brussels urged TikTok to give more weight to what users say they want to see, warning that the "not interested" button "may not be enough to change the content feed". It also suggested the company stop using viewing time to decide which videos to recommend, make user controls easier to find and use, and test its algorithm regularly.
This is the third set of preliminary findings the Commission has issued against TikTok under the DSA. Earlier this year it raised concerns about "addictive design" features that it said encourage compulsive use among children, and about the protection of children's privacy rights online, Euronews reported.
In July the Commission made a comparable demand of Meta, calling on the company to change the "addictive design" of Facebook and Instagram as part of its DSA investigations.
How the reports differ
Al Jazeera led with the demand to fix the feed and the threat of fines, while Reuters framed the same step as the EU charging TikTok over what it called the algorithm's "rabbit hole" effects. Euronews carried TikTok's rebuttal in full, quoting a spokesperson who called the Commission's statements "fundamentally inaccurate", and set out the specific design changes Brussels wants, including less weight on viewing time and easier-to-use controls. Dawn alone reported the size of the potential penalty, saying regulators put it at up to 6 percent of ByteDance's global annual turnover and pointed to a decision next year. Euronews alone noted that the EU made a similar demand of Meta over Facebook and Instagram in July.
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