Making Creator Headlines · Page 8
The EU Wants a Way Out of TikTok's Endless Feed
· New York time
The European Union says the design of TikTok's For You Page violates the Digital Services Act, citing the risk that personalized recommendations draw users into hard-to-escape “rabbit holes.” The EU says it has authority to demand changes to the feed. The platform's invitation to keep scrolling has met a regulator interested in the exit. The feed presents an apparently endless series of vertical videos, with recommendations shaped by users' interactions. EU executive vice president Henna Virkkunen said that scrolling or liking a video can lead the algorithm to serve more of the same. The concern is not merely that a video is engaging, but that the design can keep directing people deeper into related material. The announcement is a regulatory position, not a redesigned feed already in place. Its importance extends beyond one market because TikTok is a global platform and its recommendation system is central to how creators reach audiences. Decisions about the design of that system can affect the relationship among viewers, creators and the platform. For creators, discovery by the feed can bring an audience that did not know to look for them. For regulators, the same capacity to hold attention raises questions about how easily people can stop. TikTok's product has spent years perfecting the next video. Europe would like it to pay more attention to the moment after that, when a user might prefer to leave.
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