For years, the standard critique of any platform that chose not to algorithmically amplify content was some variation of the same dismissal: you're leaving engagement on the table.
The logic was airtight by the metrics that defined the last decade of social media.
More signals fed into a recommendation engine meant more time on platform, more ad inventory, more growth.
Opting out of that machinery wasn't principled — it was naïve.
That critique has aged badly.
The EU's Digital Services Act is now in full enforcement mode, and what it demands of large platforms is genuinely agonizing.
Under DSA obligations, platforms with over 45 million EU users must provide meaningful transparency about how their recommender systems work, offer users the ability to opt out of profiling-based recommendations, and submit to independent audits of algorithmic risk.
On paper, this sounds reasonable.
In practice, it creates a dilemma that no amount of…
LENDZ
