Independent Body for Social Media Disputes in EU

By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – An independent body, supported by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)' Oversight Board, has a certification from the media regulator in Ireland to resolve appeals against policy violation decisions of social media companies in the European Union.

Formation of Appeals Centre Europe

Formed as a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), Appeals Centre Europe will initially decide cases relating to Facebook, ByteDance's TikTok, and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s YouTube, with plans to include more social media platforms over time.

Operations and Funding

With a team of experts, the body will apply human review to every case within 90 days to determine whether platforms' decisions are consistent with their content policies, as stated in their announcement.

The Dublin-based Appeals Centre, which received a one-time grant from the Oversight Board, will be funded through fees charged to social media companies for each case. Users who raise a dispute will pay a nominal fee, refundable if the decision is in their favor.

Limitations

However, under the DSA rules, online platform providers may refuse to engage with the dispute settlement body, and it lacks the power to impose binding settlements on parties.

Leadership

Thomas Hughes, the former director of the Oversight Board, will serve as the inaugural CEO of the Appeals Centre.

> "We want users to have the choice to raise a dispute to a body that is independent from governments and companies, focused on ensuring platforms' content policies are fairly and impartially applied," Hughes said.

The Appeals Centre will have a board of seven non-executive directors and will begin accepting disputes from users before the end of the year.