EDRi files DSA complaint against YouTube for undermining user autonomy
EDRi filed a complaint with Belgium’s Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT), the country’s DSC, against Google/YouTube, alleging its opt-out flow for the profiling-based recommender system is a deceptive ‘dark pattern’ violating DSA Articles 38, 27(3) and 25. Selecting the non-profiling alternative leaves users with a blank homepage and a deleted watch history, reached only via multiple buried settings screens, while switching back to the default is one click.
Executive summary
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In March 2026 EDRi submitted a complaint to BIPT arguing that YouTube’s recommender-settings interface amounts to a DSA Article 25 dark pattern: choosing a profiling-free feed is technical and hard to find and wipes the user’s watch history, while the platform repeatedly nudges users back to the profiled default. Citing Articles 38 and 27(3), which require very large platforms to offer a genuinely accessible non-profiling recommender option, EDRi documents the exact click path with screenshots and contrasts it with clearer opt-in designs on LinkedIn and the open-source platform PeerTube. The filing asks BIPT to investigate and order Google to redesign the interface, unbundle the choice from watch-history settings, and face dissuasive monetary sanctions if it does not comply.
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