Meta, the tech giant owning Instagram and formerly known as Facebook, announced updates on its operations in Europe as part of the Digital Services Act (DSA) law led by the European Commission.
1. Stories and Reels
Meta will soon offer Stories and Reels in chronological order, among other changes, to comply with the DSA, the company recently announced, meaning that users will have the option of not seeing algorithm-based content on their timeline. The changes were expected after the Commission announced that it had reached an agreement in April to create new rules that would require platforms like Facebook to offer alternative systems “not based on profiling” as a key requirement.
The tech company said that it has assembled a multifunctional team comprising over 1,000 people working to prepare their social media platforms and technology when the DSA is implemented in the EU countries on August 25.
“We’re now giving our European community the option to view and discover content on Reels, Stories, Search, and other parts of Facebook and Instagram that is not ranked by Meta using these systems,” said the company in a statement.
Users will also be able to view search results based only on the words they enter, rather than results personalized specifically to them based on their previous activity and personal interests.
2. AI systems
The company is also providing more information about how its AI systems rank content via 22 system cards for Facebook and Instagram, adding to its “Why Am I Seeing This” feature.
“These cards provide information about how our AI systems rank content for Feed, Reels, Stories, and other surfaces; some of the predictions each system makes to determine what content might be most relevant to people; and the options available to help customize an experience on Facebook and Instagram,” Meta said.
3. Ad library
Meta is also expanding its Ad library to display and archive all ads — for one year — that target EU users, including date run, parameters used for targeting — age, gender, location — who received the ad and more. It’s also rolling out two new tools for researchers that include publicly available content from Pages, Posts, Groups and Events.
The DSA will be applicable across countries falling under the EU to regulate tech companies such as Meta, Google, X (formerly Twitter) and how they moderate content on their respective platforms. Meta is among the 19 platforms identified by the DSA which have become relevant and responsible to make the Internet safer. Other platforms include Alphabet’s Google Maps, Google Play, Google Search, Google Shopping and YouTube, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Amazon’s Marketplace, and Apple’s App Store, reported Reuters.
