Seventy-six years ago today, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This laid out – for the first time – a set of fundamental rights which applied to each and every person on our planet.
As we mark this milestone on Human Rights Day, new regulations – like the Digital Services Act – are promoting and protecting people’s rights online.
A New Era for Digital Rights
Which posts, images and videos should be left up and which should come down? Where is the line between content moderation and censorship? For years, the answers to questions like these have been monopolised by platforms and governments. By contrast, the people who use social media have had little say in the matter and – unless they could afford to go to court – little possibility to challenge platforms’ decisions.
The Digital Services Act is changing this and helping people across the EU to realise their rights. By allowing people to challenge platforms’ content decisions through new, independent bodies like the Appeals Centre, this landmark legislation is empowering people to take control of what they see and post online.
Why Does This Matter?
The question of whether a single post, image or video is left up or removed might not always seem important. Yet the question of what people can say on social media is a crucial one. Today, with billions of people getting their information on social media, it’s essential that social media companies make the right decisions. Yet this isn’t always the case. While platforms often have the right rules in place, the sheer number of posts means they don’t always apply them correctly. And when platforms make mistakes, users pay the price.
Anyone who has had their post removed without reason – or has seen posts in their newsfeed which blatantly break the rules – knows how frustrating this can be. In some cases, this can have serious real-world consequences. Posts by small businesses suddenly disappear, depriving them of essential income. Posts showing breast cancer symptoms are deleted, removing potentially life-saving information. While – in other cases – homophobic or transphobic hate speech is left up unintentionally – leaving these communities feeling unsafe and ignored.
How is the Appeals Centre Different?
Independent out-of-court dispute settlement bodies – like the Appeals Centre – are empowering people to challenge content decisions by Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
Platforms have to engage in good faith with us and will have to explain themselves to regulators if they choose not to implement our decisions.
We employ full-time, professional case reviewers with experience of applying platforms’ content rules. However, in many cases, the way we apply these rules will be different to the platforms themselves. If one of our case reviewers cannot reach a decision based on the platform’s rules, they can escalate to another member of our team with deeper knowledge in a particular area. At this point, we will interpret how to apply the platform’s rules, values and policy exceptions in light of fundamental rights as set out by bodies such as the European Union and United Nations.
How Can the Appeals Centre Make a Wider Impact?
We believe that – over time – the data on the kinds of disputes we receive will create a map of the risks facing the people who use social media platforms. This could show that platforms are removing certain kinds of legitimate speech when it’s not necessary, or they could be leaving harmful policy-violating content on their platforms. This data will be of great value to academics, journalists, civil society, regulators and – of course – platforms themselves.
All democratic societies are built on the premise of human rights. The EU’s Digital Services Act applies these same principles – that are fundamental to us all – to the digital world. But for rights to have meaning, you have to be able to access them. Our next challenge is to create a new ecosystem of dispute settlement bodies and to ensure people across the EU can realise their digital rights.
*If you’re in the EU and want to challenge a decision by Facebook, TikTok or YouTube on a piece of content, you can submit a dispute to the Appeals Centre through this link.