Today, the court ruled on Meta's appeal against an earlier ruling in a lawsuit brought by Bits of Freedom. The Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the digital human rights organization. This is good news for Facebook and Instagram users: the freedom of choice they have been given over the information on their feed will remain intact.

About the appeal

Meta appealed against the judgment in the summary proceedings issued by the court in early October. Bits of Freedom demanded that Meta offer its Instagram and Facebook users the option of choosing a feed that is not based on profiling. This is an obligation under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Without that freedom of choice, participation in public debate is seriously impeded. This is in itself problematic, but especially so in times of elections. The preliminary relief judge ruled in favor of Bits of Freedom and ordered Meta to modify its apps.

The immediate result of this is that since the beginning of this year, most Facebook and Instagram users in the Netherlands have been able to choose between two feeds. One compiled by Meta, based on the profile created about you. The other is a feed with posts from the accounts you follow in chronological order.

In the appeal, Meta no longer contested the violation of the DSA. The company withdrew all substantive objections one working day before the hearing. It only asked the court to rule on a number of procedural points. Most importantly, Meta contested the urgent nature of the lawsuit. It also considered the deadline it had been given by the judge to implement the requested changes too short. On both points, the judge upheld the initial verdict.

Great news for users of Instagram and Facebook!

With this judgement, users' freedom of choice remains intact. The Court of Appeal, like the preliminary relief judge, “is of the opinion that the claims are urgent in nature.” Bits of Freedom has a continuing urgent interest in the claim due to the "continuing unlawful conduct [...] in violation of the DSA”, precisely because it concerns the freedom of information gathering. The Court of Appeal increased the penalty to 10 million euros because the maximum set in the summary proceedings was “an insufficient incentive for compliance”.

“The urgency of the case is confirmed by this ruling,” says Evelyn Austin, Executive Director of Bits of Freedom. “Meta has an enormous impact on our freedom of communication and public debate. It is therefore very important that the company complies with our European rules. This judgment shows once again that Meta is not above the law.”

Users in other European countries will have to wait longer before they, too, are given more freedom of choice. The Dutch court only rules on the situation in the Netherlands. Austin: "We are pleased that Meta now to a degree seems to be in compliance with the law in the Netherlands on this point. But it is unacceptable that they continue to violate the law in other European countries. Europe deserves better, and we will fight hard to ensure that European citizens get what they deserve."

Did you change your feed? (in Dutch only)