Key facts
- The Commission said TikTok's 'For You' feed must give users more control over opting out of certain content.
- Regulators said TikTok's 'not interested' button has not effectively reduced how often harmful content is recommended.
- The Commission wants more weight given to users' explicit preferences and an end to reliance on viewing time as a recommendation metric.
- TikTok said it has a strong record of protecting its community while giving users direct control over their content experience.
- The Commission said the case is the first time it has targeted a social media platform's recommender systems under the DSA.
- TikTok will have a chance to respond before the Commission issues a final decision.
The European Commission announced preliminary findings on November 6 that TikTok's recommendation system breaches the EU's Digital Services Act, the bloc's rulebook for online platforms. The Commission said the platform's 'For You' feed serves users a continuous stream of personalized videos, including clips about mental health struggles and body image, and that TikTok failed to assess how its systems could lead users into "rabbit holes" that threaten their well-being.
The findings could expose TikTok to a fine next year of up to 6% of its global annual revenue unless its parent, ByteDance Ltd., addresses the problem. TikTok said the findings are "fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform's architecture and our commitment to user safety," and that it has "a strong record of protecting our community while giving users direct and intuitive control over their content experience." The company will have a chance to respond before the Commission issues a final decision.
European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who oversees tech sovereignty, said in a statement that "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." She said the preliminary findings show TikTok needs to step up efforts to protect users' well-being, including minors.
The Commission said TikTok has added measures such as a "not interested" button to reduce the rabbit hole effect, but that they are ineffective in reducing how often harmful content is recommended. Regulators want TikTok to give more weight to users' explicit preferences, stop relying on viewing time as a metric for recommending content, and make user controls more accessible.
A Commission official, granted anonymity to speak freely, said it was the first time the Commission was tackling an engagement-based recommender system model head-on, according to Politico. The investigation focused on mental health impacts because the evidence there was strongest, another official said. The Commission opened its investigation more than two years before the November 6 findings and has issued two other sets of preliminary findings against TikTok in 2026, over addictive design features affecting children and over child privacy protections.