Tech and AI
The European Commission finds TikTok's For You feed in breach of EU law for drawing users into 'rabbit holes' of harmful content
By Staff Writer | 7 November 2026
Brussels says the app's recommendation system keeps serving videos about sadness, isolation and body image to people who engage with them, and that its safeguards do not work.
The European Commission has found, on a preliminary basis, that TikTok is in breach of the Digital Services Act because of the way its For You feed draws users into what the Commission calls "rabbit holes". The finding, announced on Friday 6 November, is aimed at the recommendation system that sits at the centre of the app.
The Commission says the feed shows users a continuous stream of personalised videos, including when those videos relate to mental health struggles and body image. The more a user watches or likes a certain kind of content, the more of it the algorithm recommends. Where that content is about sadness, isolation, weight loss or body image, the Commission says repeated exposure can harm the user, especially minors and vulnerable adults.
Risk assessment and safeguards
The findings deal with two duties under the Act. First, the Commission says TikTok did not properly assess how its algorithm can lead people into these loops, and so put their wellbeing at risk. The system reads engagement, such as watching a video to the end or liking it, as a sign of interest, even where the content may be triggering.
Second, it says the measures TikTok has introduced to reduce the risk are not effective. Efforts to diversify recommendations do not reduce enough how often similar content is shown. Pressing the "not interested" button may not be enough to change the feed, because the algorithm gives more weight to viewing time than to a user's stated wish to see less of something.
At this stage, the Commission considers that TikTok must change the design of the feed. It suggests the company rely more on users' explicit preferences, stop using viewing time as a signal for recommendations, make its controls easier to find and use, and test its algorithm regularly.
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. The Digital Services Act makes platforms responsible for addressing the negative effects related to their recommender system.
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, European Commission
What happens next
TikTok may now examine the documents in the Commission's file and reply in writing. The European Board for Digital Services will be consulted in parallel. If the Commission confirms its view, it may adopt a non-compliance decision, and a fine can reach 6 per cent of the company's total worldwide annual turnover. The Commission says the preliminary findings do not prejudge the outcome.
TikTok rejects the findings. The company said the Commission's statements were inaccurate and misrepresented how its platform works, and that it has a strong record of protecting its users and giving them control over what they see. It says its rules already prohibit content that promotes disordered eating. It could avoid a fine by agreeing to change its recommender system.
The case forms part of a wider set of proceedings against the platform. The Commission issued preliminary findings on addictive design, including infinite scroll, in February 2026, on the protection of minors in July 2026 and on researchers' access to data in October 2025. A complaint about advertising transparency was closed in December 2025 when TikTok gave binding commitments. Ireland's media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, supported the latest investigation.
The case will test how far the Digital Services Act allows the Commission to require changes to the design of a recommendation feed, as distinct from the removal of individual videos.