EU Commission requests YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat to provide details on algorithms used to recommend content to users.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it has sent a request for information to YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok under the Digital Services Act regarding the design and operation of their recommender algorithms.

This investigation focuses on the factors that various Internet platforms use to promote content to users, particularly potential systemic problems related to electoral integrity, mental health, and minors’ protection.

YouTube has 2.49 billion active monthly users. YouTube is the second-most popular social media network in the world. There are more than 80 million paying users of YouTube’s Premium and Music services.

Snapchat has around 800 million monthly active users (MAU) worldwide, with 432 million daily active users as of Q2 2024.

TikTok currently has 1.04 billion monthly active users. TikTok is the fifth most popular social media network, after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

TikTok has been requested to expand on its tactics for preventing undesirable actors from misusing the site, as well as the risks involved with elections and civic discourse.

Newsng gathered that requests to YouTube and Snapchat focus on the parameters of their algorithms and how they recommend content to users, including content that may have an impact on election processes, user mental health, minor protection, and the propagation of illicit content.

To note, this came after the EU asked the big tech companies, including AliExpress, TikTok, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, to do more to protect their platforms from harmful and illegal content and activities.

The tech firms are required to provide the information by November 15, 2024, after which the commission will decide the next steps.

We earlier reported that EU regulators accused Facebook parent firm Meta of violating the historic antitrust laws of the bloc about its newly launched ad-supported social networking site.