TikTok was accused by the European Commission of violating European Union rules by repeatedly displaying content related to mental health and body image that could harm users’ well-being. communicated the regulatory mechanism this Friday.
Through a preliminary assessment, the European Commission concluded that the platform’s content recommendation system TikTok causes the so-called effectrabbit hole” — in Portuguese, “rabbit hole” — presenting users with a “continuous stream of personalized videos” as the user interacts with the content and from which it is hard to leave.
This system, which goes against the EU Digital Services Regulation, can have even more harmful impacts when this “endless and repeated exposure” involves “content about sadness, isolation or body image”.
Negative effects on the mental health of users — especially adults and minors vulnerable — may include “increased feelings of sadness or anxiety, body dissatisfaction, decreased self-esteem or worsening of existing eating and mental disorders”, concluded the assessment of European Commission.
TikTok rejected the accusations.
Cited by Reuters, the company considered the EU’s statements “fundamentally incorrect” and accused them of distorting the platform’s architecture and its “commitment to user security”.
“We have a solid track record of protecting our community, while providing users with direct and intuitive control over their content consumption experience”, added the Chinese company with 189 million users in the European Union.
The European Commission, however, contradicts this idea, and reiterated that “TikTok did not apply proportionate, reasonable and effective mitigation measures to address these risks”.
The European mechanism proposed that the platform be based more on explicit user preferencesdisable watch time as an indicator for recommending content, increase the accessibility of user controls, and regularly test your algorithm.
If the Commission’s understanding is confirmed, TikTok could be subject to a fine whose amount could reach a maximum of 6% of the company’s annual global turnover.
Social media companies are under pressure to change their algorithms amid growing concern globally that their platforms are contributing to a mental health crisis, particularly among children.
In July this year, the European Commission had accused TikTok of violating European rules on content online for not guaranteeing adequate protection of minorsallowing the exposure of children and young people to predators and situations of cyberbullying. In October, TikTok employees again exposed risks of child sexual exploitation and access to harmful content and alerted their superiors about age verification failureswithout measures having been taken, according to statements gathered in court documents.
