Facebook tops content removal complaints at Irish dispute body ...
Appeals Centre Europe says Meta started implementing its non-binding decisions.
Three in four complaints received since November by the Irish Appeals Centre Europe (ACE), which gathers complaints from social media users about content removal or moderation under the EU’s platform rules, were from Facebook users, the authority said in a statement. Some 21% relate to TikTok, and 3% from YouTube, ACE added.
The organisation, which began its work late last year to provide an alternative to often costly and time-consuming legal routes to redress and to reduce the burden on regulators and courts, said it received more than 1,500 complaints from users challenging the three online platforms’ decisions. It has ruled in 10% of those cases about content on Facebook and TikTok.
“In over half of our decisions about content on Facebook (77 of 141 decisions), we agreed with the user who submitted the dispute - overturning Meta’s original decision to leave up or take down the content,” ACE said.
“While our decisions are non-binding, platforms must engage with dispute settlement bodies like the Appeals Centre. Meta has already started implementing our decisions,” the organisation added.
Disputes were about potential violations of platforms’ rules on adult nudity, followed by bullying and harassment, and restricted goods and services - which covers user references to products like drugs and alcohol.
Euronews reported
last month that the European Commission has said it will consider concerns of appeals bodies, after they called for better cooperation with online platforms. A group of eight appeals bodies called for a meeting to present initial experiences with reviewing content moderation decisions under the DSA. Thomas Hughes, CEO of ACE, said: “We’ve received 1,500 disputes from across the EU. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when compared to the number of content moderation actions these platforms are making. Platforms must do more to ensure that their users know about – and can benefit from – bodies like the Appeals Centre."
Besides the Irish, the digital services regulators in Germany, Malta, and Hungary were the first across Europe to approve these dispute bodies under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The DSA became applicable to the largest online platforms in August 2023, and to all other platforms early 2024. Its obligations include requirements for corporate transparency about ads and content moderation.
