The European Commission has taken direct aim at the engine powering TikTok’s endless stream of short videos, issuing preliminary findings that the platform’s recommendation system violates the Digital Services Act (DSA) due to the risks it poses to users’ mental health. The regulator argues that the algorithm can trap individuals in ‘rabbit holes’ of harmful content and is demanding fundamental changes to how the ‘For You’ feed operates. These are preliminary conclusions, not a final sanction, but they signal a significant escalation in Brussels’ scrutiny of algorithmic design.
- Core Allegation: The Commission claims TikTok’s algorithm amplifies harmful content—such as material about sadness, isolation, or body image—without adequate risk assessment or mitigation, potentially trapping vulnerable adults and minors.
- Demanded Changes: TikTok is required to redesign the ‘For You’ feed, give more weight to users’ explicit preferences, improve user controls, and critically, stop using watch time as a signal for recommending content.
- Potential Penalty: If the findings are confirmed, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance could face fines of up to 6% of its total annual global revenue.
What Exactly Is the Commission Challenging?
The crux of the EU’s case is that TikTok’s algorithm reinforces itself: the more a user interacts with certain content, the more of the same is served, and the company failed to evaluate or mitigate the harm this can cause. According to the Commission, this reinforcement is particularly dangerous with content related to sadness, isolation, or body image, and TikTok did not implement sufficient measures to prevent users from becoming trapped. The regulator states plainly that these ‘rabbit holes’ can have ‘a detrimental impact on the mental health of users,’ especially vulnerable adults and minors. A revealing detail: tapping ‘Not interested’ may not be enough to change what the feed recommends.
This focus on addictive design echoes previous DSA determinations against Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, part of a broader offensive that began when the EU set its sights on infinite scroll and addictive social media features. The Commission’s demands include giving more weight to users’ explicit preferences, improving controls, and periodically testing the algorithm. The most delicate requirement is to ‘disable watch time as an indicator’—a direct attack on the metric that makes the feed both addictive and profitable.
“Every time a user scrolls or likes a video on TikTok, the algorithm gives them more of the same, leading users into rabbit holes they cannot easily escape,” said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for tech sovereignty. “Today’s preliminary findings show once again that TikTok needs to redouble its efforts to protect the wellbeing of users, including minors.”
TikTok rejects the accusations, stating that the Commission’s claims are ‘fundamentally inaccurate and distort the architecture of our platform and our commitment to user safety.’ The company maintains it has a strong track record of protecting its community while giving users direct and intuitive control over their content experience. It will have the opportunity to respond before the Commission issues a final decision.
A Long-Running Investigation Reaches a Critical Juncture
These preliminary findings are the latest step in a lengthy proceeding. The overarching investigation began in early 2024; in February, the EU already stated that TikTok breached the DSA through addictive design, and in July it accused the platform of failing to protect the privacy of minors’ accounts. The November 6 findings on the algorithm represent an intermediate stage before a possible final decision. TikTok has introduced some measures, such as a ‘not interested’ button to reduce the ‘rabbit hole effect,’ but the Commission indicated these are ineffective in diminishing the frequency with which harmful content is recommended.
The regulatory pressure is not confined to Europe. It aligns with a wave of legislation aimed at protecting minors, such as the UK’s law that could ban social media for under-16s. The outcome of this case will be closely watched across the industry, as it tests whether regulators can force a platform to abandon the very metric—watch time—that underpins the attention economy.
The Broader Implications for the Attention Economy
My reading is that the EU has finally reached the point where it hurts. For years, criticism of ‘addictive design’ remained abstract; demanding the removal of watch time as a recommendation criterion is concrete and surgical, because it disables the engine that keeps people glued to the screen. If it succeeds, it is not a tweak: it is changing the nature of the product. That said, it is wise not to preempt the outcome. This is a preliminary conclusion, TikTok flatly rejects it, and the path to a fine or real change could be long. What is at stake transcends TikTok: if Brussels succeeds in making a social network measure success by something other than the time it retains you, it will have touched the central dogma of the entire attention economy. And every platform, not just the short-video one, is watching.
Sources & References