Key facts
- The Commission said TikTok did not adequately weigh the risk of a continuous stream of personalized videos, including on mental health and body image.
- The Commission said TikTok should rely more on explicit signals such as an 'I'm not interested' button than on engagement metrics.
- Only 0.2% of TikTok users select the non-personalized feed the DSA provides for, one Commission official said.
- The case is the fifth in which the Commission has accused TikTok of breaching EU rules, and it has issued no fines against the platform.
- The Commission is separately investigating rabbit hole effects at Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram.
- TikTok did not respond to POLITICO's request for comment.
The European Commission issued preliminary findings on November 6, 2026, charging TikTok with breaching the bloc's online content rules because of the so-called rabbit hole effect of its recommender system, which draws users into a constant stream of similar videos.
TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance risks a fine next year of up to 6% of its global annual turnover unless the issue is resolved, according to the report.
The Commission said TikTok failed to implement proportionate, reasonable and effective measures to address the risks, and that endless and repeated exposure to content about sadness, isolation or body image can harm users' mental health. It said TikTok should change the design of its "For You" feed algorithm, rely more on users' explicit preferences, make user controls easier to find and use, and regularly test its algorithm.
"Every time a user scrolls or likes a video on TikTok, the algorithm serves more of the same leading users down rabbit holes they cannot easily escape from," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement. "Today's preliminary findings show again that TikTok needs to step up its efforts to protect users' well-being, including those of minors," she said.
The charges fall under the EU's Digital Services Act, which requires large online platforms to do more against harmful and illegal content. They are part of a broader EU investigation into TikTok: in February the Commission charged the platform over what it said were addictive designs, inadequate efforts to protect children and difficulty for researchers seeking access to public data. TikTok said at the time