Reported by The Guardian
Regulator’s initial ruling says algorithm ‘can be harmful’ and led young and vulnerable viewers ‘down rabbit holes they can’t easily escape’
TikTok has been charged by the European Commission with failing to protect users’ mental health by exposing them to a relentless stream of content that risks worsening eating disorders and anxiety in a case that strikes at its business model.
Issuing a preliminary ruling on Friday, the EU regulator said TikTok’s algorithm “can be harmful” and was leading young and vulnerable users “down rabbit holes they cannot easily escape from”.
More from the original report
The Chinese-owned short-video platform, which has 189 million users in the EU, was found to have failed to prevent users from being served up repetitive content on themes such as body image or isolation, which can lead to anxiety, sadness, worsen existing eating disorders or mental health problems.
Officials said their investigation focused on legal content, where a single video might not be problematic, but the cumulative effect of watching scores of them on one theme could damage users’ mental health.
TikTok’s safeguards to mitigate the risks of “rabbit-hole effects” – where users are served narrow and repetitive content to keep them engaged – were found to be ineffective. For example, officials said, if a user checked a “not interested” button on a video about eating patterns, the algorithm would still offer them similar content on diet and body image. Similarly, refreshing a feed only provided a brief respite from a stream of content on one topic, it found.
“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,” said the European Commission’s lead official on tech policy, Henna Virkkunen. “TikTok needs to step up its efforts to protect users’ wellbeing, including those of minors.”
The investigation strikes at TikTok’s business model, which is built on keeping users scrolling as long as possible.
EU officials want TikTok to change the design of its ForYou feed, to give users greater control over the content they see.
“We are addressing a business model,”…