Dutch court orders Meta to change Facebook and Instagram timeline settings

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A Dutch court on Thursday ordered Meta Platforms to provide Facebook and Instagram users with simpler options for a timeline that does not rely on profiling. The court said elements of the design of both platforms were not in line with the European Union's Digital Services Act. It gave Meta two weeks to offer users a "direct and simple" way to opt out of a timeline with recommended content. It also ruled that users' choices for a chronological or other non-profiled timeline must remain in effect. The court said the platforms’ current practice of automatically reverting to a profiled timeline whenever the app or website is closed constitutes a prohibited "dark pattern" and infringes on the right to freedom of information. "People in the Netherlands are not sufficiently able to make free and autonomous choices about the use of profiled recommendation systems," the court said. The court said these choices were also important in light of the general election in the Netherlands on October 29. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bits of Freedom, the Dutch digital rights group that brought the case, said the ruling made clear that Meta must respect user preferences. "It is unacceptable that a few American tech billionaires can determine how we view the world," its spokesperson Maartje Knaap said. (Reporting by Bart Meijer, additional reporting by Inti Landauro, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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