European Commission preliminarily finds TikTok's 'For You' feed in breach of DSA

The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that TikTok’s personalised "For You" recommendation feed breaches the Digital Services Act because its algorithm can repeatedly push similar content, creating harmful "rabbit‑hole" effects for users, including minors.

What the Commission found and the next steps

In its preliminary assessment, published in early November 2026, the Commission concluded that TikTok’s recommender gives excessive weight to signals such as viewing time and that repeated viewing of material about weight loss or body image can be interpreted by the system as interest — which then prompts more similar recommendations. The Commission warned that such exposure can increase anxiety, body dissatisfaction and aggravate existing eating disorders.

The findings say the platform’s controls do not sufficiently allow users to steer their feed: "the 'not interested' button may not be enough to change the content feed," and algorithmic ranking still prioritises time spent watching over an explicit user choice to see less of a topic.

Commission documents note investigators analysed around 20,000 videos and reviewed internal documents and company data with input from psychologists, psychiatrists and system‑design experts. TikTok may now examine the investigation files, reply in writing, and the European Board for Digital Services will be consulted before any final decision. If the Commission’s views are confirmed, a non‑compliance decision could lead to a fine of up to 6% of the provider’s worldwide annual turnover.

A TikTok spokesperson rejected the assessment, saying: "The Commission has made a series of statements that are fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform's architecture and our commitment to user safety. We have a strong record of protecting our community while giving users direct and intuitive control over their content experience," and said the company would review the investigation documents and respond in writing.

Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice‑President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, summarised the Commission’s concern: "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. The Digital Services Act makes platforms responsible for addressing the negative effects related to their recommender system. Today's preliminary findings show again that TikTok needs to step up its efforts to protect users’ well‑being, including those of minors."

The broader proceedings against TikTok were opened on 19 February 2024 and cover a range of issues, including the protection of minors, systemic design risks, harmful content, advertising transparency and researchers’ access to data. Earlier preliminary assessments in 2026 addressed so‑called addictive design features and shortcomings in protection for minors; the current findings focus specifically on recommendation patterns in the "For You" feed.

For users in North Macedonia the Commission’s statement does not itself impose immediate changes; the procedure follows EU rules and the Commission did not specify whether any required design adjustments would be applied nationally outside the EU.

Photo: press material from the event