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The EU warned TikTok on Friday that it must change the “harmful” design of its personalised For You feed or risk large fines under the bloc’s digital rules, after finding preliminary evidence of violations.
The European Commission has accused the social media platform of breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) over the “harmful ‘rabbit holes’ effect”, where TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly recommends similar videos, potentially exposing children and vulnerable users to increasingly harmful content.
“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 in a statement.
TikTok has rejected the Commission’s findings, saying they misrepresent how its platform works and the measures it has taken to protect users.
“The Commission has made a series of statements that are fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform’s architecture and our commitment to user safety. We have a strong record of protecting our community while giving users direct and intuitive control over their content experience,” a TikTok spokesperson told Euronews.
TikTok’s algorithm continues to recommend similar videos even when users indicate they are not interested in certain content.
The European Commission said TikTok had taken steps to address these risks, but they had not been effective enough, calling for further changes to the platform’s design.
Among its recommendations, Brussels urged TikTok to give more weight to users’ preferences, warning that the “not interested” button “may not be enough to change the content feed”.
The Commission also suggested that TikTok stop using viewing time to recommend videos, make user controls easier to access and use, and regularly test its algorithm.
EU steps up efforts to enforce the DSA
The EU has stepped up efforts to protect children online through the DSA, a wide-ranging rulebook that requires tech companies to follow a legal framework. Companies failing to do so are met by hefty financial penalties and investigation into their platforms.
The Commission launched its investigation into TikTok over possible breaches of the DSA more than two years ago.
Earlier this year, it issued two other sets of preliminary findings, accusing the platform of using “addictive design” features that encourage compulsive use among children and failing to adequately protect children’s privacy rights online.
The EU also called on Meta in July to change the “addictive design” of Facebook and Instagram as part of investigations under the DSA.
Additional sources • AFP