Social media feeds can feel less like a list of updates and more like an endless stream selected to keep people watching. A new choice for users in the European Union offers a way to step back: on major platforms, people can opt for content that is not personalized based on their activity.
A choice beyond personalized feeds
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) requires major platforms to offer users an option that does not rely on profiling. On Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, people can choose a less tailored way to see content, including posts from accounts they follow in chronological order.
The change is about giving people more control over what fills their screens. Personalized systems use signals such as what users click, engage with, linger on or search for. A non-personalized option reduces the role of that tracking in deciding what appears.
Some companies have introduced related changes beyond the EU. Facebook launched a chronological Feeds tab globally, while YouTube said logged-in users who turn off watch history will not receive next-video recommendations based on their viewing profile. The article links these moves to the DSA, while noting that platforms may be streamlining compliance across regions.
What changes when recommendations stop?
On Instagram, the Home feed offers “Following” and “For you.” The first shows posts from accounts a user follows, while “For you” continues to include algorithmically selected recommendations. Instagram’s Explore tab also has a “Not personalized” option, replacing tailored recommendations with a grid of images.
These choices do not remove recommended content from the platform. Instead, they make it possible to avoid that content in particular parts of the app. Users who want a more personal feed can keep using it; those who prefer a simpler view can switch.
Facebook’s chronological feed changes the mix in a different way. Posts from friends that might be ranked lower by an engagement-based system can appear alongside one another in time order. The result can feel more like an older version of Facebook, where updates from friends were not sorted by predicted popularity.
Why the feed’s order matters
Recommendation systems can shape what people encounter without making that process obvious. A platform knows how users respond to content and can use that information to select what comes next. That gap in information gives the platform considerable influence over attention.
Even seemingly simple recommendations can become repetitive. The article describes an Instagram feed that kept surfacing cat videos after one cat video had been watched. The issue was not the subject itself, but the feeling of being pushed into a stream that was difficult to escape.
A chronological or non-personalized feed can offer a different experience: posts may be less polished or less likely to hold attention, but they can also feel more ordinary and less targeted. That tradeoff may appeal to people tired of influencer content or recommendations that crowd out updates from friends.
The limits and wider stakes
The DSA guarantees an option, not that everyone will use it. Leaving an algorithmically selected feed means choosing a different experience, and some users may find the less filtered content less engaging. TikTok, in particular, is known for a content selection system central to its popularity, so it remains unclear whether its users will embrace a non-personalized feed.
The law is part of a broader regulatory effort. Alongside the Digital Markets Act, the DSA includes requirements beyond offering a choice about personalization. The article notes obligations for platforms to identify and mitigate systemic risks related to AI use, and to make data available to external researchers studying technology’s social effects.
Those broader measures point to a larger question: how much influence should platforms have over what people see, and how visible should the effects of that influence be? A feed toggle will not remake social media on its own. It does, however, give users a practical way to opt out of some profiling-based recommendations and decide how they spend their attention.