Ireland regulator opens investigations into Meta Platforms

The probes will examine whether Meta violated the European Union’s Digital Services Act

Ireland’s media regulator has opened two investigations into Meta Platforms Inc. over concerns the company may be preventing users from choosing what appears in their Instagram and Facebook feeds.

The probes, announced by Coimisiún na Meán on Tuesday, will examine whether Meta violated the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The investigations follow reviews and assessments of user complaints.

The regulator highlighted concerns about recommender systems and the potential harm algorithms can cause by delivering damaging content to platform users, particularly children. A recommender system presents users with posts, videos, products, or articles selected and ranked by a system based on their interactions and preferences.

John Evans, digital services commissioner at Coimisiun na Mean, said the DSA has placed greater obligations on platforms to keep people safe online, while providing people with greater rights than they had previously.

He said: Coimisiun na Mean recognises the concerns that many people have about recommender systems, and the potential harm that these algorithms can potentially cause by repeatedly pushing harmful content into the feeds of users, especially children and young people.

We want to remind users of Very Large Online Platforms, the household name companies most of us would recognise, that they have a right to choose a recommender system feed that is not based on the profiling of their personal data, he said.

While the European Commission serves as the main EU enforcer against Big Tech, certain aspects of the law, including the reporting mechanism, fall under the jurisdiction of the national regulator in the EU country where a platform is based.

The investigations will examine whether users can select and modify their preferred recommender system and if the required functionality exists under the DSA. Regulators will also assess whether the platforms’ online interfaces mislead or manipulate users away from selecting a feed that is not based on profiling of their personal data.