Coimisiún na Meán opens investigations into Meta's Instagram and Facebook

Padraic Halpin, Bernadette Baum - Reuters

Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland's media regulator, has opened investigations into Meta's META.O Instagram and Facebook over concerns EU users cannot easily control what they see online and may be steered by algorithms into highly personalised feeds, it said on Tuesday.

Under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), the regulator can investigate major online platforms and search engines headquartered in Ireland, and fine them up to six per cent of global turnover for breaches of online content rules.

Coimisiún na Meán said the suspected breaches concern whether users can easily select and modify the content they see, and whether Facebook and Instagram's interfaces deceive or manipulate them away from doing so.

It said it had received complaints about possible "dark patterns," or deceptive design features, which could prevent users from exercising their right under the DSA to opt for recommender-system feeds that are not based on profiling of personal data.

The regulator recognised "the potential harm that these algorithms can potentially cause by repeatedly pushing harmful content into the feeds of users, especially children and young people," said John Evans, its digital services commissioner.

The European Commission, which carries out many investigations under the DSA on its own, charged TikTok in February with breaching the regulations over addictive features, including its recommender system.

The regulatory moves under the DSA, which requires large online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content, have drawn criticism from the US government.

The Irish regulator has opened investigations in the last six months into X, TikTok, and Microsoft's MSFT.O LinkedIn into potential breaches of other EU online content rules.