Brussels – It has been defined as a ‘rabbit hole’ effect: that mechanism whereby, when watching a video on social media, the algorithm automatically suggests other similar or increasingly extreme content, drawing users into an endless chain of views. This effect is present in TikTok’s ‘For You’ content recommendation system, which is why today (6 November), the European Commission preliminarily found that the Chinese giant is in breach of the European Digital Services Act (DSA) – the European legislation designed to make the online space safer, more transparent and more accountable. The Executive Vice-President responsible for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, stated: “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.”
A European official familiar with the matter explained that the assessment is “the result of intensive work involving the gathering of evidence, the conducting of experiments, interviews and the analysis of academic research.” Today’s preliminary conclusions from the Berlaymont Building focused on two elements: risk assessment and mitigation measures, which the official described as “specific remedies that we are asking TikTok to consider”.
Risk assessment
According to the Commission, when a user repeatedly views or ‘likes’ sensitive content, such as content related to weight loss or body image, the system interprets these interactions as positive signals of interest and recommends similar content. However, repeated exposure to such content can have serious negative effects on users’ wellbeing, including increased feelings of sadness or anxiety, body dissatisfaction, a decline in self-esteem, or the exacerbation of pre-existing eating disorders and mental health conditions. Specifically, TikTok’s ‘For You’ section “shows users a continuous stream of personalised videos, even when those are related to mental health struggles and body image.” Within the app, the more a user interacts with a particular content type, the more the section’s algorithm recommends similar content. This system proves dangerous if content “relating to sadness, isolation or body image” is displayed incessantly and repeatedly. “Today’s preliminary findings show again that TikTok needs to step up its efforts to protect users’ well-being, including those of minors,” Virkkunen stressed.
Mitigation measures
EU sources familiar with the matter have explained that the Chinese platform “has adopted certain specific measures to tackle the issue of so-called ‘hides'”. In particular, “the company uses ‘dispersion’ techniques designed to offer diverse content, but our analysis has clearly shown that these measures are not effective”, they added. The tech giant has also “introduced a feed refresh function, which, however, has proved to be temporary: after a short period of time, the system reverts to displaying the previous content, returning the user to the same loop”. A European official pointed out that “even the app’s ‘not interested’ option is ineffective, as the user continues to receive the same type of content”. According to his estimates, “only 0.2 per cent of TikTok users actually make use of it”, so it remains an “inadequate solution”.
Today’s preliminary conclusions also indicate that TikTok has not adopted “proportionate, reasonable and effective mitigation measures to address these risks”. In a press release, the European Commission reiterated this point: “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,“ as “they do not sufficiently reduce how often similar content is recommended, including content related to mental health struggles and body image.”
Regarding measures, an EU official noted that “platforms – TikTok, to name one, though it is not the only one – base their recommendation systems on users’ implicit interactions”, that is, the way in which the platform’s algorithm observes and records behaviour to understand a person’s tastes and interests. “Our aim is for TikTok to move away from this approach and instead focus on the explicit preferences expressed by users,” they said. In addition to this measure, there is a call to improve the ‘Not Interested’ feature: when “a user indicates they are not interested in a piece of content, that choice must be effectively respected, without being circumvented after a short time”, he stated, clarifying that “these are the types of remedies we are setting out in our preliminary conclusions”.
At this stage, therefore, the Commission considers that TikTok should amend the structure of the ‘For You’ feed and, in addition to users’ explicit preferences, “disable viewing time as an indicator for content recommendations, improve the accessibility and usability of the control tools available to users, and regularly test its algorithm”. An EU official stressed that the content of this preliminary assessment is in line with Article 10 of the European Children’s Act proposal. “We want these measures to be adopted by all platforms in the future. In a sense, therefore, this work serves as a foundation,” he stressed.
TikTok now has the opportunity to exercise its right of defence. It will be able to examine the documents contained in the Commission’s investigation files and respond in writing to the Commission’s preliminary conclusions. At the same time, the European Committee on Digital Services will be consulted. Should the Commission’s conclusions be confirmed, the Commission may issue a decision finding non-compliance with the DSA, which may result in the imposition of a fine proportionate to ‘the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement’ and which may amount to a maximum of 6 per cent of the provider’s total annual global turnover.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
