TikTok’s personalized FYP poses risk to mental health, violates EU law according to regulators

European regulators warn TikTok‘s “rabbit hole”-inducing FYP might be breaking EU law.

Preliminary findings from an investigation by the European Commission accuse the social media giant of failing to mitigate the potential mental health risks of its personalized algorithmic feed in violation of the Digital Services Act.

In particular, the regulatory body takes issue with the platform’s “continuous stream of personalized videos” and the ways in which its algorithm determines user interest. Repeated interaction with triggering content, the report says, is interpreted as positive interest, leading to a “rabbit hole effect.”

“This design can be harmful when such endless and repeated exposure involves, for example, content about sadness, isolation or body image,” the Commission writes. “These ‘rabbit holes’ can have a detrimental impact on users’ mental health, especially that of vulnerable adults and minors.”

The early findings urged TikTok redesign its For Your Page. “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,” advise regulators.

If TikTok fails to comply with the commission’s final report and recommendations, the company may be fined up to 6 percent of its global revenue.

Studies of TikTok’s content recommendation algorithm have found that the platform’s content moderation and personalization options frequently fail to keep harmful content off of users’ feeds. The company has previously been accused of knowingly proceeding with ineffective measures to reduce excessive screen time and harmful content, including the tendency of users to fall into “bubbles” of harmful content via their For Your Page.

This past week, TikTok, Meta, and Google each filed lawsuits against California attorney general Rob Banta, seeking to block a new state law that prohibits “addictive” and “psychologically exploitative” design features on social media platforms. Such features include infinite scroll, autoplay, and personalized recommendations.