Ireland's media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, has commenced two investigations into Meta Platforms Inc. to determine whether the company is preventing users from choosing what content appears in their Instagram and Facebook feeds.
Announced on Tuesday, the inquiries will assess whether Meta's practices conform with the European Union's Digital Services Act. The regulator said the probes follow a programme of reviews and assessments of complaints submitted by platform users.
Scope of the examination
Authorities will focus on whether users are able to select and modify their preferred recommender system, and whether the specific functionality required under the DSA is present on the platforms. The work will also include scrutiny of platform interfaces to see if they mislead or manipulate users away from choosing a feed that does not rely on profiling of personal data.
The regulator underscored concerns about recommender systems and the risks posed by algorithmic delivery of harmful content to people who use the platforms, singling out children as a group of particular concern. The regulator defined a recommender system as a mechanism that presents users with posts, videos, products or articles that are selected and ranked by a system based on their interactions and preferences.
"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,"
Digital Services Commissioner John Evans said in the regulator's announcement.
Jurisdictional note
While the European Commission is the principal EU-level enforcer against major technology platforms, Coimisiún na Meán noted that specific elements of the DSA - including the reporting mechanism referenced in its announcement - fall under the responsibility of the national regulator in the EU member state where a given platform is established.
What regulators will review
The investigations will determine whether the choices and controls required by the DSA are available to users, whether those controls function as intended, and whether online presentation and design steer users away from non-profiling feed options. The regulator will assess whether platform features could be misleading or manipulative in practice.
Note on scope: The announcement describes the regulatory steps and areas of focus but does not provide a timetable for the inquiries or details about potential remedies or penalties.