EU DSA Article 38 - Recommender systems for VLOPs and VLOSEs
Provide at least one non-profiling-based option for each recommender system, directly accessible from the recommendation interface
Where this comes from
Provision: Article 38 - Recommender systems for VLOPs and VLOSEs
Instrument: EU Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065)
Citation: Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Article 38
Text version: Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA), OJ L 277, 27.10.2022
Who it applies to
It applies when all of these are true:
- Service is a Very Large Online Platform/Search Engine (45M+ EU users)
- Service has users in the European Union
- Service uses recommender systems
…unless:
- Only VLOPs and VLOSEs are required to offer a non-profiled recommender option. Smaller platforms exempt. (DSA Article 38 - VLOP/VLOSE only)
What engineering work it implies
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Each recommender system offers at least one option that is not based on profiling (as defined in GDPR Art 4(4))
- The non-profiling option is available to ALL users, not only minors
- The option is directly accessible from the interface where the recommendations are presented
- Selecting it returns non-personalised results and the choice persists for the session/user
- System handles null/empty input gracefully (no 500 errors)
Questions people ask
- Does EU DSA Article 38 - Recommender systems for VLOPs and VLOSEs apply to my service?
- It applies when Service is a Very Large Online Platform/Search Engine (45M+ EU users); Service has users in the European Union; Service uses recommender systems. It does not apply where Only VLOPs and VLOSEs are required to offer a non-profiled recommender option. Smaller platforms exempt. (DSA Article 38 - VLOP/VLOSE only).
- From when does this apply?
- EU DSA Article 38 - Recommender systems for VLOPs and VLOSEs applies from 17 February 2024. Its current status is: in force.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.