The European Commission has pressed charges against the TikTok platform for failing to protect the mental health of users, assessing that its algorithm exposes them to a continuing flow of content that could exacerbate anxiety and nutrition disorders.
In a preliminary assessment released Friday, the European regulator has concluded that the TikTok algorithm may be harmful, as it instructs new users and the most vulnerable to repeated content from which they cannot easily escape.
According to the European Commission, Chinese-owned platform, which numbers 189 million users in the European Union, has failed to prevent continued exposure to content related to body image, diets and isolation. Such material, even when it is not a problem, can have negative consequences when users are constantly exposed to it.
The investigation has found that TikTok’s safeguard clauses to prevent the so-called performance of the road without a lead are not effective. This phenomenon occurs when the algorithm recommends increasingly similar content to users in order to keep them active on the platform as long as possible.
Even when users choose the option, I don’t care about videos related to diet mode, the algorithm continues to display similar materials for diets and body image. Also, the cooling of the page offers only a brief cut from the content of the same subject.
Every time a user moves through the video or likes one in TikTok, the algorithm shows more similar content by taking users off the road, from which they cannot easily come out, has declared Henna Virkken, the European Commission’s chief official for technological politics.
KikTok must step up efforts to protect the well-being of users, including minors, she has stressed.
On the other hand, the company has rejected the European Commission’s findings, naming its statements as inaccurate.
The Commission has made a series of statements that are essentially inaccurate and distort the way our platform works and our commitment to the safety of users.
We have a strong story in protecting our community, offering users direct and intuitive control of the content they see, a TikTok spokesman has declared.
The company claims that its policies prohibit content that promotes eating disorders and dangerous weight management behavior. According to her, more than 79 million EU users have used the option I don’t care about or the filters on key words to remove unwanted content during the first six months of 2026.
The findings of the investigation were welcomed by the Molly Rose Foundation, founded in memory of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who lost his life in 2017 after being exposed to harmful online content.
The foundation has named these findings historical, demanding that TikTok be held responsible for the way his algorithm can lead young people to harmful content.
A survey conducted on this organization earlier this year revealed that almost half the girls and a third of all teenagers in the United Kingdom had been exposed within a week to the content of suicide, self – sacrifice, and eating disorders on social networks.
Meanwhile, the EU investigation directly affects the TikTok business model, which is based on maintaining users as long as possible by looking at content on the platform. For this reason, European officials require changes in the operation of the address book, so that users can have more control over the videos they are recommended for.
This investigation is part of a broader process, launched in February 2024 under the Act for Digital Services ( The DSA, which obliges large internet companies to take measures to prevent various damage, including dezinformation and negative impact on mental health.
The European Commission had earlier found that TikTok had violated EU regulations regarding the framework design of the platform, including the function of the endless movement of content.
TikTok already has the opportunity to review the investigation record and present his defence. The company may agree to change the content recommendation system to avoid a fine.
If preliminary findings are confirmed, the platform could face a fine of up to 6 percent of its annual global circulation.
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Source Layer: Signal