European Digital Rights (EDRi)
EDRi researches and litigates against manipulative platform interface design, profiling-based recommender systems, and non-transparent ad targeting, using DSA enforcement mechanisms — regulator complaints, coordinated multi-organisation filings, and forensic analysis of platforms’ own DSA-mandated transparency tools (e.g. ad repositories) — to hold Very Large Online Platforms accountable.
- Type
- EU digital-rights network / advocacy coalition (AISBL, Brussels)
- Based in
- Brussels, Belgium
- Focus region
- EU-wide
Notable projects
Filed a DSA complaint against YouTube’s recommender-system dark patterns with Belgium’s Digital Services Coordinator (March 2026); co-filed a joint complaint against Meta over non-profiling feed options with Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán (April 2025), which triggered a formal Meta investigation a year later; co-filed a complaint against X for letting advertisers target users using sensitive personal data categories (July 2025).
Unlike single-country watchdogs, EDRi is a network of 50+ member digital-rights organisations across Europe (founded 2002, Brussels-based secretariat) that coordinates joint, multi-jurisdiction DSA complaints, pairing in-house EDRi policy staff with member organisations’ national legal standing.
- Investigations
- 3
- Platforms tracked
- 3
- Active since
- 2025
- Latest report
- Mar 2026
Topics covered
- Algorithmic Harm & Recommender Systems2
- Platform Compliance & Governance2
- Ad Transparency & Fraud1
- Data Access & Research Tools1
Watchdog vs. platform
Publicly documented legal proceedings, access disputes, or other platform pushback. Allegations, findings, and outcomes are labelled separately and linked to their sources.
No sourced legal or practical dispute has been documented for EDRi yet. Know of one?
Add a sourced caseResearchers
Current
- Jan PenfratSenior Policy Advisor1
Reports
Full database2026
1 report2025
2 reports- Jul 2025X/Twitter
Civil society files joint DSA complaint against X for targeting people with ads using their sensitive personal data
On 14 July 2025, nine organisations — EDRi, AI Forensics, Centre for Democracy & Technology Europe, Entropy, GFF, Global Witness, Panoptykon Foundation, Bits of Freedom and VoxPublic — filed a joint DSA complaint against X with the Digital Services Coordinators of France, Germany and the Netherlands, citing Article 26(3). Using X’s own public Ad Repository, the groups documented advertisers targeting or excluding users via protected categories: Shein targeting far-left political interests, TotalEnergies excluding users interested in ‘ecologist’ content, McDonald’s excluding trade-union members and antidepressant users, and Brussels Signal targeting far-right party sympathisers.
Ad Transparency & FraudData Access & Research ToolsArt. 26 — Ad labelling - Apr 2025Meta
Civil society files DSA complaint against Meta for toxic, profiling-fueled feeds
On 15 April 2025 EDRi, Bits of Freedom, GFF and Convocation Research + Design jointly filed a complaint with Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán (Meta’s lead DSA regulator), alleging Meta’s deceptive interface design keeps Facebook and Instagram users on profiling-based feeds and silently resets any non-profiling choice, breaching DSA Articles 38, 27(3) and 25. On 5 May 2026, a year on, Coimisiún na Meán confirmed it had opened a formal investigation into Meta over these dark-pattern allegations.
Algorithmic Harm & Recommender SystemsPlatform Compliance & GovernanceArt. 27 — Recommender transparencyBy Jan Penfrat and Simone Ruf