EU Commission Preliminarily Finds TikTok's For You Feed Breaches DSA

The European Commission said on 6th November that it had preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) over the "rabbit hole effect" of its recommender system. The release says that system uses information about user engagement, such as watching and liking videos, to personalise what it recommends. The Commission's release carries no time of day.

What The Commission Says

The press release describes the For You feed as an endless run of personalised videos that can include material on mental health struggles and body image. Heavier interaction with one type of content leads the algorithm to recommend more of it. The Commission says this can harm users' mental health, especially vulnerable adults and minors.

The findings cover two duties. On risk assessment, the Commission says TikTok did not adequately assess how its algorithm may lead users into such rabbit holes. It says the algorithm treats watching and liking a video as a sign of interest, so a user who repeatedly engages with content such as weight loss or body image gets more of it.

On mitigation, the Commission says TikTok has put some measures in place, but they are not effective. It says efforts to diversify recommendations do not sufficiently reduce how often similar content appears. It also says the "not interested" button may not be enough to change the feed, because the algorithm prioritises content based on viewing time over a user's choice to see less of something.

What The Commission Wants Changed

At this stage, the Commission considers that TikTok needs to change the design of the feed. Its examples are relying more on users' explicit preferences, disabling viewing time as an indicator for recommending content, making user controls easier to find and use, and regularly testing the algorithm. The release calls these examples of what TikTok should do; no order has been issued.

Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who holds the Commission's tech sovereignty, security and democracy portfolio, said in the release: "Today's preliminary findings show again that TikTok needs to step up its efforts to protect users' well-being, including those of minors."

What Happens Next

TikTok may examine documents in the Commission's investigation file and reply in writing to the preliminary findings. The European Board for Digital Services will be consulted in parallel. The DSA text requires the Commission to hear the provider on its preliminary findings before a non-compliance decision, and any reply period set must be at least 14 days. The press release does not state TikTok's deadline. It does not include a TikTok response, and none was published on the pages read.

If the Commission's views are ultimately confirmed, it may issue a non-compliance decision. Under Article 74 of the DSA, fines are capped at 6% of total worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year, and apply where a provider infringed the rules intentionally or negligently. The Commission says any fine would be proportionate to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement.

The DSA offers other routes. Under Article 71, a provider can offer commitments, which the Commission may make legally binding. The Commission can also decide that the conditions for a breach are not met and close the investigation. Fines and periodic penalty payments can be reviewed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which can cancel, reduce or increase them. The Commission says its preliminary findings "do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation".

Context

The finding is part of formal proceedings into TikTok's DSA compliance. In the same proceedings the Commission adopted preliminary findings on addictive design in February 2026 and on protection of minors in July 2026. Preliminary findings on researchers' access to public data came in October 2025, and a strand on advertising transparency was closed through binding commitments in December 2025. The Irish Digital Services Coordinator, Coimisiún na Meán, supported the investigation.

The DSA's systemic-risk rules apply to platforms with at least 45 million average monthly active users in the EU that the Commission has designated as very large. Article 34 requires them to assess risks, including from recommender system design, and Article 35 requires reasonable, proportionate and effective mitigation, which can include testing and adapting recommender systems.