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In a landmark decision, the Amsterdam District Court has ruled that Meta must stop forcing algorithmic timelines on users and make the option for a non-personalized, chronological feed persistent and easy to access.
Judge flags hidden settings as a forbidden “dark pattern”
The complaint came from Bits of Freedom (BoF), a Dutch digital-rights group that sued Meta under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). BoF argued Meta deliberately buried the chronological feed option — on Instagram it was tucked behind the app logo, and on Facebook it lived in a separate menu — so users couldn’t permanently opt out of algorithmic, personalized feeds. The court agreed, calling the practice a dark pattern under Article 25 of the DSA because it creates “choice fatigue” by resetting user preferences.
Imagine selecting a chronological feed only to find the app forgets your choice the next time you open it. That’s exactly what the ruling said Meta’s interfaces were doing, effectively nudging people back into algorithmic timelines without their informed consent.
What the DSA requires and why this matters
The Digital Services Act, proposed alongside the Digital Markets Act in 2020, sets new rules for very large online platforms (VLOPs) and search engines (VLOSEs) with more than 45 million monthly EU users. The law demands greater transparency about algorithms, new tools to challenge moderation decisions, and protections against deceptive design. Regulators wrote these rules to protect users — especially during sensitive times like elections — from being unknowingly steered by opaque systems.
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Two weeks to fix it — or pay up
The court ordered Meta to make the chronological, non-profiled feed setting persistent and easier to find within two weeks. If Meta doesn’t comply, the company faces a daily penalty of €100,000 up to a maximum of €5,000,000. Meta must also cover BoF’s legal costs.
Meta has pushed back against EU rules in the past, claiming some measures risk overreach or censorship. Still, this ruling shows national courts can force concrete UX changes when regulators deem those designs unlawful under the DSA.
What users should know
- You should be able to set a chronological feed that sticks — even after closing the app.
- The ruling targets interface design, not whether algorithms exist at all; platforms can still offer recommended timelines, but not by hiding the choice.
- If Meta complies, switching to a persistent chronological view should become quicker and more obvious on both Instagram and Facebook.
Maartje Knaap, a Bits of Freedom spokesperson, said the verdict shows that “a handful of American tech billionaires” shouldn’t determine how people see the world and that Meta is “not untouchable.” For EU users worried about opaque feeds, this decision could be the first step toward clearer, user-first timeline controls.
Source: neowin
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