The European Union warned TikTok on Friday that it must change the “harmful” design of its personalized “For You” feed. Otherwise, the platform faces substantial fines under the bloc’s digital rules, following the discovery of preliminary evidence of violations.
The European Commission has accused the platform of breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) because of the “harmful rabbit-hole effect,” whereby TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly recommends similar videos. This risks leaving users, particularly children, vulnerable to harmful content.
TikTok rejected the Commission’s findings, saying they misrepresent how the platform operates and the measures it has taken to protect users.
The Commission launched its investigation into possible DSA violations by TikTok more than two years ago, Antena3 reports.
Earlier this year, two further sets of preliminary findings were issued. The platform was accused of using “addictive design” features that encourage compulsive use of the app among children, and of failing to adequately protect their online privacy rights.
In July, the EU also called on Meta to change the “addictive” design of Facebook and Instagram.