The European Commission is intensifying its scrutiny of TikTok amid growing concern over “SkinnyTok” — an algorithm-driven content stream that targets minors and promotes extreme thinness and potentially harmful eating habits.
SkinnyTok has become a hot spot for videos glamorizing rapid weight loss, “what I eat in a day” posts with dangerously low calorie counts, and body comparison clips, often served up automatically by TikTok’s recommendation system.
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said at a Tuesday press briefing that an investigation is underway. “We’re very well aware of the issue of this trend on TikTok,” he said. “How we deal with harmful algorithms, especially when they target minors, is already part of the investigation that we opened last year in February.”