TikTok faces EU warning: “For You” algorithm could harm mental health

TikTok’s video recommendations have sparked another dispute between the platform and the European Union. Brussels warns that the way the app works could put users’ health at risk, while the company could face a hefty fine.

Preliminary findings by the European Commission indicate that the algorithm may recommend an endless stream of personalized videos to users, including the most vulnerable. According to the Commission, this mechanism could worsen mental health difficulties and encourage addiction, eating disorders and anxiety.

The investigation focuses on the “For You” page, designed to show users content related to their interests as quickly as possible. The Commission wants the feature changed over concerns that its recommendations could create a “rabbit hole” effect: becoming immersed in a topic to the point where it is difficult to disengage.

The term refers to a character in the book “Alice in Wonderland,” who falls down a rabbit hole and ends up in another world. Critics say the algorithm can prompt users to keep watching similar content, holding their attention increasingly on the same topics.

The European Commission says TikTok has not taken sufficient steps to reduce the risk and that its existing safeguards have not worked properly. In its assessment, even selecting “Not interested” does not sufficiently change the content shown in the video feed.

Algorithms can identify behavioral patterns and use them to keep people on a platform longer. Brussels criticizes TikTok’s personalization for potentially including content with harmful emotional effects, putting children and young people at particular risk.

“This mechanism can be harmful when endlessly repeated content is related, for example, to sadness, loneliness or body image,” the European Commission says. Repeated exposure to such videos could deepen existing psychological distress and harm mental well-being, it adds.

The Commission wants the time spent watching a video to no longer serve as a basis for the algorithm. It also wants users to have more control over what appears on the “For You” page and to be able to specify more clearly what content they want to see, rather than relying mainly on automated recommendations.