New research shows online platforms use manipulative design to influence users towards harmful choices
New research by Bits of Freedom investigated social media platforms Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok, and e-commerce platforms Shein, Zalando and Booking.com for their use of manipulative design. The worrying findings indicate that these platforms continue to nfluence the choices of users to their detriment despite being prohibited by laws.
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New research shows online platforms use manipulative design to influence users towards harmful choices
New research by Bits of Freedom investigated social media platforms Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok, and e-commerce platforms Shein, Zalando and Booking.com for their use of manipulative design. The worrying findings indicate that these platforms continue to nfluence the choices of users to their detriment despite being prohibited by laws.
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Six years in court fighting against arbitrary censorship. What about user empowerment promised by the DSA?
Regardless of the final court judgment, this case highlights the urgent need for Poland to implement the DSA. Without its enforcement, users of the largest social media platforms — whether private individuals or CSOs — still stand little chance against the dominance of tech giants.
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Civil society files DSA complaint against Meta for toxic, profiling-fueled feeds
Civil society organisations Bits of Freedom, Convocation Design + Research, European Digital Rights (EDRi), and Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF) are filing a complaint against Meta for violating the Digital Services Act (DSA).
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Surveilling Europe’s edges: when research legitimises border violence
In May 2024, EDRi member Access Now’s Caterina Rodelli travelled across Greece to meet with local civil society organisations supporting migrant people and monitoring human rights violations, and to see first-hand how and where surveillance technologies are deployed at Europe’s borders.
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EDRi files DSA legal complaint against X
EDRi and our member ApTI filed a DSA complaint against social media giant 'X' for breaching its obligations towards Trusted Flaggers.
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12 civil society organisations tell delivery platforms it’s time to deliver answers on how they use algorithms to manage their workers
EDRi member Privacy International and more digital rights groups, together with trade unions, call out food delivery platforms for their algorithmic management of workers. In an open letter co-signed by 12 organisations, they make three clear recommendations for the platforms to improve.
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The Digital Services Coordinator Database: Tracking DSA investigations into Big Tech
EDRi has launched its Digital Services Coordinator Database which provides a comprehensive overview of all enforcement authorities and the cases they have taken against online platforms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.
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Exploring the aftermath of the annulment of Romanian election results – social media platforms, the democratic process, and the role of the DSA
EDRi member ApTI recaps events leading up to and after the annulment of the December 2024 result of the first round of Presidential elections in Romania. Investigations confirm TikTok’s failure to follow European and national electoral law. With the elections set to take place again later this year, ApTI explores the relationship between the discourse on social media platforms, the democratic process and how legislation such as the DSA can act as a safeguard.
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Meta and X are going rogue. Here is what Europe should do now.
With Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and many other tech billionaires cuddling up to an ever more authoritarian Trump administration, it is crucial that the EU sticks to stringent enforcement of its tech laws. However, to solve the core problem, we have to curb the immense grip Big Tech has on our institutions and invest in truly independent digital alternatives.
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TikTok catalyses extremist views and breaches electoral legislation in Romania
Romanian civil society is alarmed about political advertisement on TikTok breaching European and national laws and how that benefited an extremist candidate in the elections. EDRi member ApTI with 20 other NGOs from Romania call upon the European Commission and the national authorities to take swift action and investigate, as elections are still ongoing.
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Protection through empowerment and not exclusion: EDRi’s response to DSA Article 28 call for evidence
On 30 September, EDRi and its members submitted a response to the European Commission’s call for evidence for the DSA Article 28 guidelines for the protection of minors online. The submission focused on the importance of a holistic approach and relying on empowering young people, rather than excluding them.
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Croatian TikTok: A battleground between pro-EU and anti-EU narratives
Gong, a Croatian democracy watchdog organisation and EDRi member, published an analysis of the political narratives on TikTok during the national 2024 election campaign. The research explores the political narratives and environment on TikTok in the pre-campaign and campaign period for the Croatian parliamentary elections. It highlights a vibrant and intricate political landscape on TikTok in Croatia, marked by a division between democratic and anti-democratic narratives aimed at swaying the platform's younger audience.
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