Commission preliminarily finds TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed in breach of Digital Services Act for harmful ‘rabbit holes’ effect

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the European Commission has preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for the so-called ‘rabbit hole effect’ of its recommender system. TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed shows users a continuous stream of personalised videos, even when those are related to mental health struggles and body image.

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. These ‘rabbit holes’ can have a detrimental impact on users’ mental health, especially that of vulnerable adults and minors.

Today’s preliminary findings focus on both risk assessment and mitigation measures.

Risk assessment

The Commission preliminarily found that TikTok did not adequately assess how its recommendation algorithm may lead users into such ‘rabbit holes’, putting their wellbeing at risk. The preliminary findings show that the algorithm design may play an important role in the emergence of ‘rabbit holes’. The algorithm uses information about user engagement, such as watching and liking videos, to personalise the content recommended to them.

For example, when a user repeatedly watches or likes content that may be triggering, such as content about weight-loss or body image, the system interprets these interactions as positive signs of interest and recommends more of the same.

Repeated exposure to such content may have serious negative effects on users’ wellbeing, including increased feelings of sadness or anxiety, body dissatisfaction, lower self-esteem, or worsening of existing eating disorders and mental conditions.

Risk mitigation measures

Today’s findings also preliminarily conclude that TikTok failed to implement proportionate, reasonable and effective mitigation measures to address these risks.

While TikTok has already put in place certain measures to mitigate the risk of the ‘rabbit hole effect’, the Commission has preliminarily found that these measures are not effective.

Measures to recommend diversified content do not sufficiently reduce how often similar content is recommended, including content related to mental health struggles and body image.

The control tools do not effectively enable users to control the content recommended to them. For example, using the ‘not interested’ button may not be enough to change the content feed. The algorithm prioritises showing users content based on viewing time, over their choice to see less of certain content.

At this stage of the investigation, the Commission considers that TikTok needs to change the design of the ‘For You’ feed. For example, TikTok should rely more on users’ explicit preferences, disable viewing time as an indicator to recommend content, increase the accessibility and usability of user controls, and regularly test its algorithm.

Next steps

TikTok now has the possibility to exercise its right to defence. It may examine the documents in the Commission’s investigation files and reply in writing to the Commission’s preliminary findings. In parallel, the European Board for Digital Services will be consulted.

If the Commission’s views are ultimately confirmed, the Commission may issue a non-compliance decision, which can trigger a fine proportionate to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement and reach up to but not more than 6% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the provider.

Background

The Commission’s preliminary findings today are part of its formal proceedings to investigate TikTok‘s compliance with the Digital Services Act.

As part of the same proceedings, the Commission adopted preliminary findings related to addictive design in February 2026, as well as related to protection of minors in July of the same year. In addition, the proceedings also included access to public data for researchers, for which preliminary findings were adopted in October 2025, and advertising transparency, which was closed through binding commitments in December 2025.

The Commission’s preliminary views are based on an in-depth investigation that included an analysis of TikTok’s risk assessments reports, internal data and documents and TikTok’s responses to multiple requests for information, a review of the extensive scientific research on this topic, and interviews with experts in multiple fields, including in recommender systems, as well as psychology and psychiatry. The Irish Digital Service Coordinator (DSC), Coimisiún na Meán, has supported the Commission in this investigation.

These preliminary findings do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.