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：推荐系统用于在各种问题上提供相关建议。尽管这些系统是经典的研究课题，但公众对其看法仍认知有限。由于这些系统已知会引发多种问题，公众意见尤为重要。为此，本文对欧洲普通公民、民间社会组织、企业及其他群体关于推荐系统的认知进行了质性分析。所研究的数据集基于近期欧盟（EU）颁布的《数字服务法案》（DSA）征询意见的回复。因此，本文不仅为新技术与在线平台监管这一紧迫问题做出贡献，还揭示了DSA政策制定过程中的洞见。质性分析结果表明，欧洲人对推荐系统及其推荐质量普遍持负面态度。这些系统被广泛视为侵犯隐私及其他基本权利。许多欧洲人认为，它们还引发各种社会问题，甚至威胁民主。此外，欧盟现行法规常因缺乏有效执行而被认为失效。征询回复者提出了众多改进建议，但仅少数最终被纳入DSA。