Dutch Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Requiring Chronological Feeds on Facebook and Instagram

The decision confirms an earlier ruling issued in October that found elements of the platforms’ design did not comply with the European Union’s Digital Services Act. According to Reuters, the court agreed that the way Facebook and Instagram organize content for users raised concerns under the EU’s rules governing online platforms.

Digital rights organization Bits of Freedom brought the case in the lead-up to a national election, arguing that algorithmic feeds could harm public debate. According to Reuters, the group said users should be able to understand which posts they are seeing and why, particularly during politically sensitive periods.

The lower court previously concluded that aspects of the feed design on both platforms were not aligned with the requirements of the Digital Services Act. According to Reuters, the appeals court’s decision upholds that assessment and maintains the requirement that Dutch users must be able to access a chronological view of posts.

Meta had already complied with the preliminary ruling but said it would continue to contest the decision. A spokesperson for the company said it plans to challenge the ruling in what it described as “full scale” proceedings and added that the company is “confident in our compliance with the DSA,” according to Reuters.

Bits of Freedom welcomed the ruling. The organization’s general director, Evelyn Austin, said that while the decision currently applies only to users in the Netherlands, she hopes it will eventually influence rules across the European Union. “We will keep pushing for that,” Austin said, according to Reuters.