Good news for people who hate the feed algorithms here.

The European Union is working on a draft law to protect its citizens against manipulation through targeted ads and content. In this proposal, content providers may no longer take sensitive personal details into account to control what you see, including medical issues, sexual orientation or religion, and any kind of personalization will be forbidden for minors.

Platforms must also provide transparency about the goal of an algorithm, such as retaining your attention, and offer multiple algorithms, one of which must not be based on your behavior at all, for example purely chronological.

If this proposal is put into law, SW will have to bring back the full uncensored feed for European users, and knowing them, they'll then probably give it to users in the rest of the world too, or those could use a VPN to get access to this feature.

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NerdyPotato · M Pinned Comment

I found a little more information. Details need to be filled in, but the general concept is already accepted and planned to take effect in 2024.

https://www.engadget.com/eu-agreement-digital-services-act-172049636.html?guccounter=1

sarabee1995 · 26-30, F

@NerdyPotato Wow. This will destroy FB!!! 🤣

NerdyPotato · M

@sarabee1995 nah, I don't believe that. It will change drastically though, and may become worth using again. This may actually help them.

Classified · M

It feels like this could take years though. 😅

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NerdyPotato · M

@Classified it was approved for all EU countries in little over a year, while some vaccines can take as long as 10 years.

Classified · M

@NerdyPotato So compared to that it's extremely fast

HootyTheNightOwl

@Classified Yes... https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/01/08/why-does-the-eu-take-longer-than-the-uk-to-approve-a-covid-19-vaccine

OogieBoogie · F

Will it though if its an american site?
How will this ne monisotred?
Who will police it ?
What will the comsequences be?

Its a great philosophy , but in reality it just a declaration and nothing else .😒

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NerdyPotato · M

@OogieBoogie A few thousand? The EU has half a billion out of 5 billion internet users. Not losing 10% of their user base and revenue, and closer to 20% or 30% of their profit, should be worth a few investments and changes to most companies. (Profit will drop further than income because costs won't drop nearly as much.) We'll have to see how it turns out, but I think most companies will comply rather than drop the EU market, similarly to compliance with GDPR. That message I described earlier mostly shows up on news websites that probably don't think many Europeans would be interested in local events on the other side of the world. All social media platforms did choose to comply to retain users in the EU.

OogieBoogie · F

@NerdyPotato i hope this is true ,and works.

Yes, europe is huge . It can have q massive influence .

But when you take america and all the eastern countries like japan and korea that follow american influence, that's half a million too.

Its a numbers game .

But i hope you are right.

SW-User

@OogieBoogie Nuno is Irish

DDonde · 31-35, M

They need to make sure to be clear about the language of "algorithm" here to specifically mean the algorithms of feeds on social media.
It would not be at all practical (or secure) to give a run-down of the goal every algorithm used by a web application.

NerdyPotato · M

@DDonde they probably will. I haven't read the proposal, but heard a quick summary in a tv item about privacy on the internet and the intention sounded good. I'm sure it will have to be(come) much more detailed before being put up for a vote.

FeetAreFantastic · 41-45, M

I don't see it happening, but it's a hopeful thought

NerdyPotato · M

@FeetAreFantastic the concept has already been approved and although details still have to be filled in, it is planned to become effective in 2024. Then SW doesn't have much of a choice other than complying or declining access from the EU and I doubt they'll even consider the latter.

FeetAreFantastic · 41-45, M

@NerdyPotato I realize that. I'm still skeptical though when something sounds too good to be true. And even if it does happen, they will find a way around it.

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