What happened

Implemented in 2012, DUO's algorithm flagged students for fraud using a rule-based algorithm to calculate a risk score for all students ranging between 0 and 180 points. Profiles with a higher points were deemed to have a higher risk score. 

A June 2023 media investigation indicated that 97 percent of the students flagged for fraud were immigrants from ethnically diverse backgrounds, particularly individuals of Turkish and Moroccan descent. 

The investigation prompted accusations that the algorithm was based on seemingly arbitrary criteria and lacked any scientific basis.

In response, the Minister of Education discontinued the system and commissioned additional external research. The country's privacy watchdog also announced an investigation.

The government acknowledged that DUO's selection methodology amounted to "indirect discrimination"; in November 2024, it announced a refund plan of 61 million euros to compensate students regardless of the initial fraud findings.

Why it happened

The algorithm's design, which drew on data about students' age, level of education and the distance lived from their parents' address - is considered to have inadvertently led to ethnic profiling.

It is unclear why DUO selected the criteria it used to assess student fraud risk.