If you’re in the EU and you’ve had your post, photo, video or comment removed, or you’ve seen content which you think should be taken down, you can now submit a dispute to the Appeals Centre.
For years, the conversation about what should be allowed on social media has 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.
This matters because when platforms make mistakes, people pay the price. Journalists’ reports are removed just for naming terrorist groups. Posts by health campaigners showing breast cancer symptoms are taken down, despite clear exceptions for raising awareness. While – in other cases – hate speech which blatantly violates platforms’ rules is left up, unchallenged.
People deserve a review which is independent from platforms and governments and which gives them greater control over what they see and post online.
Fast, fair, expert review
Starting this week, people and organisations across the European Union will be able to challenge social media companies’ content decisions to an independent body in a wide range of EU languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Eight out of 10 people in the EU speak at least one of these languages, making our service accessible to millions across the continent. And while people will need to submit their dispute in one of these six languages – we will be able to review content in a far wider range of languages spoken in the EU.
Since being certified as an out-of-court dispute settlement body under the Digital Services Act, we’ve been training our in-house team of experts from across the EU who will apply human review to every case. Based in Dublin, we offer a fast and fair service – delivering an outcome to each person who raises a dispute. At present, we focus on reviewing individual pieces of content – such as posts, videos, photos and comments – that potentially violate the rules of Facebook, TikTok or YouTube. We aim to expand to other platforms, content and enforcement types, including account suspensions, over time.
How can I submit a dispute?
If Facebook, TikTok or YouTube removed your content, or if you see someone else’s content which you think breaks the platform’s rules, you can ask the Appeals Centre to independently review that decision by following the steps below:
1. Create an account – set up your own case portal so you can track the status of your dispute.
2. Submit your dispute – provide information to allow our expert team to evaluate your dispute.
3. Pay the user fee – pay the five euro fee for submitting your dispute. This prevents abuse of our systems and is refunded if we decide the case in your favour.
4. Dispute review – we seek further information from Facebook, TikTok or YouTube. Our expert team uses information provided by you and the platform to make an informed, independent decision.
5. Dispute decision – once our team has finished their review, we will send you an email to tell you a dispute decision is waiting in your case portal.
Looking ahead
As we accept our first disputes this week, we know this is just the start. In the coming months, we will improve our service in response to people’s feedback. And to truly succeed, we need a new ecosystem of solutions where dispute settlement bodies, platforms, regulators, researchers and civil society organisations all play their part. Together, we can seize this opportunity to give people more control over what they see and post online.