According to the European Commission’s preliminary investigative results, TikTok risks its users through video recommendations on its platform. The concert may face a punishment, as its algorithm also appeared to persons particularly vulnerable to an endless flow of personal videos, which could exacerbate psychic problems, the authority in Brussels announced. According to the Commission, the algorithm promotes the risk of addiction as well as eating disorders and anxiety.
The European Commission accuses TikTok of not restricting this risk enough. According to Brussels, until now protection measures have resulted inefficient. Even the button I’m not interested in is not enough to change the recommendations on the course of the videos, says the Commission’s assessment.
Focused
The focus of the procedure is especially the page “For You, which aims to display users as soon as possible content that matches their interests. The European Commission requires changes to this function, as it fears the so-called effects of the Holeéʹ (in Albanian: the effect of the rabbit hole or the effect of loss on the spiral of escalating information).
This implies the situation when a person sinks so deep into a subject that it is difficult to get out of it. The term refers to the main character of the book Alice in Wonderland, which falls into a rabbit hole and ends up in another world. According to critics, TikTok’s algorithm could cause users to constantly consume similar content, increasingly adding them to the same topics.
The algorithms can theoretically recognize and exploit these patterns of behavior to keep users as long as possible on a platform. The European Commission criticised that TikTok’s algorithm personalises content in this way that can be emotionally harmful, particularly endangering children and young people.
This mechanism can be harmful when endlessly repeated content is linked, for example, to sadness, loneliness, or body perception. According to him, continued exposure to such videos can reinforce existing psychological problems and negatively affect the mental well – being of users.
According to demand, the algorithm should no longer be based on the time users spend watching a video. Instead, users should be given more control over the contents on their Web site, allowing them to determine more clearly what they want to see on TikTok. The goal is for users not only to be guided by algorithm automatic recommendations but to have greater impact on their selection of content.
Source Layer: RTKLive