‘Appeals Centre Europe’, an independent body, said on Tuesday 8 October that it had received the green light from the Irish regulator to be certified as an alternative dispute resolution body under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
It will have to determine whether the decisions taken by the platforms (accounts deleted, reports of incitement to hatred or harassment) comply with their content policies and the rules applied by the new digital legislation.
Initially, it will deal with disputes from people and organisations in the EU and only with Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, with the aim of taking other platforms into account over time.
The aim of this ‘Appeals Centre Europe’ is to offer an alternative to the “often costly and time-consuming legal remedies”, according to its press release.
Initially funded by the governance of Meta’s Oversight Board, which the company set up in 2020 to take an independent look at content moderation, it plans to introduce fees charged to social networks for each case studied.
Users who raise a dispute will only pay a nominal fee, which will be refunded if the Appeals Centre’s decision is in their favour.
The creation of this structure meets the requirements of the DSA, which has applied to all platforms since February this year, and stipulates that their users must have access to an extra-judicial body to settle their disputes. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)