A new social media appeals body is now open and can begin hearing disputes about policy violation decisions made by platforms.
Last month it was announced that the Appeals Centre Europe will be based in Dublin and will hear disputes from people and organisations in Ireland and across the EU.
The body will initially decide cases relating to Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, and is aiming to include more social media platforms over time.
It will hear complaints about decisions by platforms relating to issues such as the removal of content and the suspension of users’ accounts.
The Appeals Centre has been certified by the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán as an out-of-court dispute settlement (ODS) body under the EU’s set of online safety rules, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The centre will make decisions within the 90-day timeframe set out in the DSA but it said in most cases it will happen much more quickly.
Decisions will be non-binding.
The start-up funding for the Appeals Centre has been provided through a one-time grant from the Meta Oversight Board Trust but the centre has insisted that it will be independent of Meta.
Once it is up and running, the new Appeals Centre will be funded through fees charged to social media companies for each case.
Users who raise a dispute will pay what is described as a ‘nominal fee’ of €5, which is refunded if the centre finds in their favour.
The Appeals Centre said it will operate as an independent regulatory body that will provide an alternative to often costly and time-consuming legal routes to redress.
It will also generate data that reveals patterns that help identify systemic risks.
The former Director of the Meta Oversight Board Administration, Thomas Hughes, is the inaugural CEO of the Appeals Centre.
“I believe that this new, independent way of empowering users to challenge decisions, which we’ve opened up today, will ultimately make social media platforms better places for people to understand the world and communicate with one another,” Mr Hughes said.
The Appeals Centre will initially have a staff of 25 people, rising to 40 by the middle of next year.
To begin with, its procedures will be available in French, English, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch, expanding to more languages over time.
It will deal with a range of disputes from bullying and harassment, misinformation, hate speech and altered images and videos.
