Dutch court rules Meta violated European law by pushing users to profiled feeds

A Dutch judge ruled Thursday that Meta violated Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) by customizing users’ recommendation feeds based on their personal data and has given the tech giant two weeks to change its practices.

Meta must begin allowing users to easily choose a non-profiled recommendation system and not have their feed automatically revert to being based on their personal data every time they close the Facebook or Instagram apps. The company will face fines of €100,000 a day for every day over two weeks that they go without making the change, the ruling said.

The decision comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Dutch nonprofit Bits of Freedom, which argued that by controlling users’ feeds Meta has been improperly skewing what news consumers receive. 

“A non‑persistent choice option for a recommendation system runs counter to the purpose of the DSA, which is to give users genuine autonomy, freedom of choice, and control over how information is presented to them,” the judge wrote.

Meta’s actions constitute a “significant disruption of the autonomy of Facebook and Instagram users,” the ruling says.

The DSA holds that users should have control over the information they are exposed to on social media.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that a handful of American tech billionaires determine how we see the world,”  Maartje Knaap, spokesperson for Bits of Freedom, said in a prepared statement. “That concentration of power poses a risk to our democracy.”

Profiled feeds contain targeted ads, which earns Meta money. The company makes it difficult for users to choose non-profiled feeds which do not harness their data by hiding the option behind a logo, Bits of Freedom said. 

Users who choose the non-profiled feed also can’t access direct messages and other features, Bits of Freedom said. Further, consumers who open Instagram or Facebook apps are presented with Meta’s feed even when they have previously chosen non-profiled feeds.

“Meta has an interest in steering users toward a feed where it can show as many interest‑ and behavior‑based ads as possible,” the nonprofit said in a press release. “This ruling shows that Meta is not untouchable.” 

A Meta spokesperson said the company will appeal the decision. 

“We introduced substantial changes to our systems to meet our regulatory obligations under the DSA, and notified users in the Netherlands about how they can use our tools to experience our platforms without personalization,” the spokesperson said in a prepared statement. 

“We continue to engage extensively with the European Commission, our DSA regulator in Europe, and believe this is a matter for them — not one to be litigated in individual courts in member states.”