EU accuses TikTok of trapping users in harmful 'rabbit holes'

The European Commission has preliminarily found that TikTok breached the Digital Services Act by failing to assess and reduce risks from its recommendation system. Its “For You” feed can repeatedly serve videos about sadness, self-harm, isolation, and body image, drawing users - especially young or vulnerable people - into harmful viewing loops. Regulators say the concern is not that these videos are illegal or violate TikTok’s rules, but that repetition can make otherwise permissible content damaging. They also judged TikTok’s existing ways to diversify recommendations, refresh the feed, or mark videos “not interested” ineffective or only temporarily helpful.

The Commission says TikTok recognized some risks in its own assessments but did not adequately analyze them or provide safeguards. Investigators reviewed internal documents and data and analyzed about 20,000 videos with mental-health and technical experts. They want recommendations to reflect users’ explicit preferences rather than rely chiefly on inferred engagement, such as viewing time. TikTok disputes the findings, calling them inaccurate and defending its user-safety measures; it can challenge the evidence before any final decision. A confirmed violation could bring a fine of up to 6% of global annual revenue. The case is the Commission’s third preliminary finding against TikTok this year and may shape the proposed KIDS Act, which would restrict engagement-based recommendations to children. Officials say they are examining similar risks beyond TikTok.