EU says TikTok's For You feed pulls users into harmful 'rabbit holes'

Most of us know the feeling. You watch one sad video late at night, then another, and soon the whole feed seems to share your worst mood. On Friday, the European Commission said that loop is not an accident of how people use TikTok. It says it is a design problem TikTok must fix.

In the TikTok Digital Services Act case, the Commission has preliminarily found that the For You feed breaks the EU’s online safety law through a harmful “rabbit hole” effect. These are early findings, not a final ruling, and TikTok strongly disagrees. But the message is pointed: the Commission says the design of the feed itself, the way it picks your next video, needs to change.

How the EU says the For You feed traps people

The Commission’s case is simple to describe. The more you watch or like a certain kind of video, the more of it the algorithm shows you. That includes videos about mental-health struggles, weight loss and body image. The Commission says repeated exposure to such content can deepen sadness or anxiety, lower self-esteem and worsen eating disorders, especially for vulnerable adults and minors.

It found two problems. First, TikTok did not properly assess how its algorithm can lead users into these rabbit holes. Second, the measures TikTok already has are “not effective”. Efforts to mix up the feed do not cut repeats enough. The “not interested” button “may not be enough to change the content feed”. And the algorithm gives more weight to how long you watch than to your own choice to see less.

At this stage, the Commission suggests four design changes. TikTok should rely more on what users say they want and stop using viewing time to recommend videos. It should also make controls easier to find and use, and test the algorithm regularly.

Henna Virkkunen leads this work as the Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. She said the algorithm “serves more of the same leading users down rabbit holes they cannot easily escape from.”

TikTok’s reply, and the long road to a decision

TikTok rejects the findings. In a statement reported by Euronews and Engadget, it said they are “fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform’s architecture and our commitment to user safety.”

Nothing is decided yet. TikTok can now read the investigation file and answer in writing, and the European Board for Digital Services, which brings together national regulators, will be consulted. Only if the findings are confirmed could the Commission issue a non-compliance decision, with a fine of up to 6% of TikTok’s total worldwide yearly turnover. No deadline or fine has been named.

This is also part of a wider case. Euronews notes the investigation opened more than two years ago. This year alone it has produced preliminary findings on addictive design in February and on protecting minors in July. Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, helped the Commission.

If your own feed feels stuck, what you can do today

These findings change nothing on your phone yet. But you do not have to wait for Brussels. TikTok’s settings include an option to refresh your For You feed, which starts recommendations again as if you were new. The app also has daily screen-time limits. Parents can sit with teens and set these up together, calmly, without blame.

If a feed leaves you or someone you love feeling low, that matters more than any setting. Talking to a trusted person is a good first step.

One open question reaches beyond Europe: if TikTok changes its feed, will it do so only in the EU, or for everyone? The answer is not known yet.

Why the TikTok Digital Services Act case could reshape every feed

The EU’s demand is specific and grounded in TikTok’s own documents, internal data and expert interviews in psychology and psychiatry. Asking a platform to listen to what users say they want, rather than only to how long they stare, is a reasonable idea.

TikTok, for its part, has the right to defend itself, and early findings can still change. It is also worth remembering, as analysis, that ranking videos by watch time is common across short-video feeds, including YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

That is exactly why this matters. On balance, our analysis is that if the EU’s view holds, it would set a standard for feed design across the industry. In the US, California’s fight with Meta, Google and TikTok over teen feeds is testing similar ground. The likelier near-term outcome is a long exchange of papers, not a sudden change.

The next sign to watch is TikTok’s written reply. Until then, the most useful setting is still the one in your own hand.