Europe's sweeping rules for tech giants kick in

Starting on Aug. 25, Europeans will see their online life change

People in the 27-nation European Union can alter some of what shows up when they search, scroll and share on the biggest social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and other tech giants like Google and Amazon.

That's because Big Tech companies, most headquartered in the U.S., are now subject to a pioneering new set of EU digital regulations.

The Digital Services Act aims (DSA) to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content.

Automated recommendation systems decide, based on people's profiles, what they see in their feeds. Those can be switched off.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, said users can opt out of its artificial intelligence ranking and recommendation systems that determine which Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories and search results to show. Instead, people can choose to view content only from people they follow, starting with the newest posts.

Search results will be based only on the words they type, not personalized based on a user's previous activity and interests, Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said in a blog post.

Turning off recommender systems also means the video-sharing platform's "Following" and "Friends" feeds will show posts from accounts users follow in chronological order.

Algorithmic recommendation systems based on user profiles have been blamed for creating so-called filter bubbles and pushing social media users to increasingly extreme posts.

Users should find it easier to report a post, video or comment that breaks the law or violates a platform's rules so that it can be reviewed and taken down if required.

TikTok...