EU's preliminary findings say TikTok's For You feed fails to curb harmful rabbit holes

The European Commission said on November 6, 2026, that its preliminary view is that TikTok breaks the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) through the “rabbit hole effect” of its For You feed. The Commission describes a loop: the more someone engages with one kind of video, the more of the same the recommender serves, even when the videos deal with sadness, isolation or body image. It says such rabbit holes can harm users' mental health, especially that of vulnerable adults and minors. The findings are not a final decision, and no fine has been imposed.

What the Commission objects to

The findings cover two duties the DSA places on the largest platforms: assessing the risks their services create, and reducing them. On the first, the Commission says TikTok did not adequately assess how its recommendation algorithm can lead users into such loops. The system treats watching and liking as signs of interest, it says, so a user who keeps watching videos about weight loss or body image is shown more of them. In the Commission's assessment, that kind of repeated exposure can bring possible harms that range from anxiety and lower self-esteem to the worsening of existing eating disorders.

On the second, the Commission accepts that TikTok already has some measures in place but says they are not effective. In its view, efforts to diversify recommendations do not cut repetition enough, and the “not interested” button may fail to shift what the feed shows, because the algorithm gives more weight to viewing time than to a user's stated wish to see less of something.

At this stage, the Commission says, TikTok needs to change how the feed is designed. Its examples are relying more on users' explicit preferences, no longer using viewing time as a signal for recommendations, making user controls easier to find and use, and testing the algorithm regularly. “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,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.

The Commission says its view rests on TikTok's risk assessment reports, internal data and documents, the company's answers to several requests for information, a review of scientific research, and interviews with experts in recommender systems, psychology and psychiatry. Ireland's Digital Services Coordinator, Coimisiún na Meán, supported the investigation. The Commission's release includes no response from TikTok, and we found no statement from the company on the findings in its European newsroom on November 10.

One case, several strands

The rabbit-hole question was part of the case from the start. When the Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok on February 19, 2024, it listed the risk of algorithms that may encourage behavioral addiction or create rabbit-hole effects, alongside the protection of minors, advertising transparency and researchers' access to data. That opening came nearly two years and nine months before this week's findings, by our count. The DSA sets no legal deadline for ending such proceedings, the Commission said at the time.

The November release lists no final non-compliance decision in the case. The only strand closed so far, on the advertising repository, ended with commitments from TikTok rather than a fine. In July, the Commission said its inquiry into rabbit holes and into minors misstating their age was still running; the November release does not mention the age question. A separate case, opened in December 2024, concerns election risks, and the Commission said in December 2025 that it was still investigating.

The Commission designated TikTok a very large online platform on April 25, 2023, after it declared 135.9 million monthly active users in the EU, and the obligations that come with that status applied to it four months later. Our explainer on the DSA covers what that designation brings.

What happens next

TikTok can now see the documents in the Commission's file and answer the findings in writing, while the Commission consults the European Board for Digital Services. A confirmed breach could lead to a non-compliance decision and a fine capped at 6% of the provider's total worldwide annual turnover. The Commission stresses that the findings do not prejudge the outcome.