EU Commission to look at improving platform disputes

The European Commission has said it will consider concerns of appeals bodies which gather complaints from users about content removal or moderation of Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, after they called for better cooperation with online platforms under the EU’s online platform rules.

Minutes made public from a meeting last week with Werner Stengg, a cabinet member of EU Technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen, show that a group of eight appeals bodies called for a meeting to present initial experiences with reviewing content moderation decisions under the Digital Services Act (DSA). 

The DSA, which became applicable to the largest online platforms in August 2023, allows for so-called out-of-court dispute settlement bodies to provide an alternative to often costly and time-consuming legal routes to redress and reduce the burden on regulators and courts.

Euronews reported in October that the first such bodies in Germany and Malta began ruling on the first social media appeal cases. They have received complaints from users – mostly of Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn – whose social media posts have been deleted or moderated by platforms under German law and violations of platform terms and conditions.

Slow response times

In their meeting with the Commission official, ADROIT, Appeals Centre Europe, Central European Appeals Hub and IMPRESS, said platforms should make it easier for users to know about the out-of-court dispute settlements.

“The slow response times and lack of contact points for some online platforms impede the [appeal] bodies’ ability to conclude their procedures within the legal deadlines,” the entities said in the meeting.

“The attendees stressed that the challenges they face have varying urgencies. While the harmonisation of some very limited areas might be useful in the future, other areas require a faster response,” according to the notes. 

The Commission said it will follow up on the issues in technical meetings. Although enforcement of the largest platforms under the DSA, including social media companies Facebook, LinkedIn, but also retailers Shein and Temu, is carried out by the Commission, smaller platforms are the responsibility of the member states.

Not every EU country has designated a regulator yet. Belgium was the last to officially approve its telecom regulator as the Digital Services Coordinator earlier this month.