Recommender systems are used to provide relevant suggestions on various matters. Although these systems are a classical research topic, knowledge is still limited regarding the public opinion about these systems. Public opinion is also important because the systems are known to cause various problems. To this end, this paper presents a qualitative analysis of the perceptions of ordinary citizens, civil society groups, businesses, and others on recommender systems in Europe. The dataset examined is based on the answers submitted to a consultation about the Digital Services Act (DSA) recently enacted in the European Union (EU). Therefore, not only does the paper contribute to the pressing question about regulating new technologies and online platforms, but it also reveals insights about the policy-making of the DSA. According to the qualitative results, Europeans have generally negative opinions about recommender systems and the quality of their recommendations. The systems are widely seen to violate privacy and other fundamental rights. According to many Europeans, these also cause various societal problems, including even threats to democracy. Furthermore, existing regulations in the EU are commonly seen to have failed due to a lack of proper enforcement. Numerous suggestions were made by the respondents to the consultation for improving the situation, but only a few of these ended up to the DSA.

翻译：推荐系统被广泛应用于各类事务中提供相关性建议。尽管这类系统是经典的研究课题，但公众对其认知仍存在知识局限。由于这些系统已知会引发多种问题，公众意见同样具有重要研究价值。为此，本文对欧洲普通公民、公民社会团体、企业及其他主体对推荐系统的认知进行了定性分析。研究所用数据集基于近期欧盟（EU）颁布的《数字服务法案》（DSA）征求意见稿的答复内容。因此，本文不仅回应了监管新技术与在线平台的紧迫议题，还揭示了DSA政策制定的深层洞察。定性分析结果显示：欧洲民众普遍对推荐系统及其推荐质量持负面评价，认为这些系统普遍侵犯隐私及其他基本权利。多数受访者指出，推荐系统还造成包括威胁民主在内的多重社会问题。此外，欧盟现行法规因缺乏有效执行而被普遍认为已然失效。征求意见稿的受访者提出了诸多改善建议，但仅少数被最终纳入DSA。