Brussels warns that the TikTok algorithm can fuel mental health disorders

BrusselsNew push by the EU against TikTok. Brussels suspects that the platform's algorithm infringes the Digital Services Act (DSA) because it traps users in a bottomless pit from which it is very difficult to escape. It considers that its content personalization design drags users into a spiral of harmful content that can damage their mental health and even encourage eating disorders. For this reason, it threatens the company with a multi-million euro fine if it does not remedy the situation.

The EU executive specifically points to the “For You” recommendation algorithm, which personalizes the content shown to each user based on their interactions with the platform: the time they spend watching a video, the comments they make, or the “likes” they leave. Preliminary conclusions from the investigation indicate that this functionality may play a significant role in retaining users and that it acts as a “trigger” for a deterioration in their well-being. In other words, it can heighten their vulnerability.

For example, it criticizes that when a user watches videos related to weight loss or body image, the system interprets these interactions as positive signals and recommends even more similar content. Thus, it considers that repeated exposure –fostered by the algorithm– can cause sadness, anxiety, body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, and worsen existing mental health problems, such as eating disorders.

Controlling content

Brussels accuses the platform of not doing enough to avoid addressing these risks and denounces that the measures it has implemented to mitigate them “are not effective”, especially regarding content related to body image. For this reason, it demands that TikTok modify the design of its personalized algorithm so that users can have effective control over the content proposed to them on their timeline. “Today's preliminary conclusions show once again that TikTok must intensify its efforts to protect the well-being of users, including that of minors,” insisted the Vice-President of the European Commission and head of technology, security, and democracy, Henna Virkkunen.

If the platform does not rectify the European Commission's demands, it faces a fine of up to 6% of its turnover. Brussels has already denounced TikTok's addictive design on at least two occasions: in February and July of this year, when it denounced that it had “preliminary” indications that it kept minors unprotected against potential aggressors.