EU charges TikTok over harmful algorithmic 'rabbit hole' effects, tells it to change 'For You' feed

European Union's (EU) tech regulators charged social media platform TikTok on Friday with breaching the bloc's online content rules, telling it to fix the so-called 'rabbit hole' effect of its recommender system, which attracts users' attention to a constant stream of similar videos. TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance risks a fine next year of up to six per cent of its global annual turnover unless it can resolve the issue, the regulators said. Social media companies are under pressure to modify their algorithms amid growing concerns worldwide that their platforms are contributing to a mental health crisis among children, prompting some governments to impose or consider bans for underage users. The European Commission, which acts as the EU tech regulator, said it issued charges known as preliminary findings to TikTok after the company failed to implement proportionate, reasonable and effective mitigation measures to address the risks. 'The more a user interacts with a certain type of content, the more TikTok's 'For You' feed algorithm recommends similar content. This design can be harmful when such endless and repeated exposure involves, for example, content about sadness, isolation or body image,' the European Commission said. '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. TikTok rejected the accusations. 'The commission has made a series of statements that are fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform's architecture and our commitment to user safety,' the company said in a statement. 'We have a strong record of protecting our community while giving users direct and intuitive control over their content experience.' The commission said TikTok needs to change its business model in Europe. It said the platform should change the design of its 'For You' feed algorithm and should rely more on users' explicit preferences, increase the accessibility and usability of user controls and regularly test its algorithm, among other changes. Even when users tell TikTok they do not like certain content, the platform's algorithm continues to suggest similar videos. TikTok has made some tweaks to mitigate the risks but they were not effective, the EU said, demanding more radical design changes. The commission gave examples of changes the platform could make, such as: The EU has ramped up its efforts to protect children, launching investigations into the world's most popular platforms under the Digital Services Act — part of the bloc's legal armoury targeting digital giants. Brussels plans to add to this by forcing social media companies to make platforms safe before children use them, as part of plans to ban children under 13 from social media, and permit only limited, supervised access until the age of 15. The latest charges are part of a broader EU investigation into TikTok. EU regulators charged TikTok in February over what regulators said were the platform's addictive designs, inadequate efforts to protect children and making it difficult for researchers to request access to public data. TikTok said at the time that those preliminary findings were 'categorically false' and it would take steps to challenge them. A senior EU official said the February findings on TikTok focused on features like notifications, whereas Friday's view was about the algorithm itself. TikTok is popular because of that algorithm, say observers, and the official admitted the EU was targeting its engagement-based business model. In its preliminary findings, the EU said TikTok did not 'adequately assess' how its recommendation algorithm put users' wellbeing at risk. The EU worried that repeated exposure to certain content could lead to 'increased feelings of sadness or anxiety, body dissatisfaction, lower self-esteem, or worsening of existing eating disorders'. The commission is separately investigating so-called rabbit hole effects caused by Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram recommendation systems. Brussels told Meta in July to change the 'addictive design' of Facebook and Instagram in an investigation started under the DSA. TikTok and Meta are subject to similar scrutiny around the world, especially in the United States where there have been claims lodged with the courts over the dangers the platforms pose to young people. TikTok in September avoided a trial after agreeing to pay Alabama at least $100 million and enact time limits and other restrictions for teenage users.