The European Commission said on Friday that TikTok did not stop its feed from drawing users into "rabbit holes" of videos about sadness, self-harm and body image. These are preliminary findings of a breach of the Digital Services Act. Officials examined legal videos that broke no TikTok rule, such as "what I eat in a day" and "SkinnyTok" trends. They argue the harm comes from repetition, not any single clip. The Record reported that officials believe no regulator worldwide has acted like this against a major platform's engagement-based recommendations.
The Commission says the feed serves more of a topic the more a user engages with it. It says TikTok's loop breakers fail: refreshing helps briefly, and "not interested" stops working after a while. It wants recommendations built on what users say they want, not on signals such as watch time. The findings are not final. TikTok can challenge the evidence, and it called the Commission's statements fundamentally inaccurate. A confirmed breach could mean a fine of up to 6% of annual global revenue, which TikTok does not publish.
The preliminary findings put engagement-driven ranking under regulatory scrutiny in the EU, and the proposed KIDS Act would restrict it for children. Builders and buyers can ask: does our ranking use choices users state, or only behaviour we infer? Do opt-out controls keep working over time?