A new body, the Appeals Centre Europe, has been certified to mediate between content moderation disputes between social media users across the European Union in a significant development for the region’s social media users. The centre, which is due to open end of 2024 will initially process claims from users of Facebook, YouTube and TikTok[1][2]. In addition, the EU is looking to tackle tech companies good and bad with its Digital Services Act (DSA), a fledgling set of regulations to make the platforms more responsible for the content on their platforms.

Dublin-centred appeals centre Europe will offer EU citizens a way of challenging when social media platforms remove content or keep material for whatever length of time.  Violence, hate speech, bullying, harassment … so a wintry mix of things users will be able to appeal. Local neighbourhood disagreements were like high profile cases of heads of state going to — case by case, said the centre’s CEO, Thomas Hughes.

The Appeals Centre Europe, in contrast to Meta’s Oversight Board, which chooses selectively which cases it will rule on, will have to rule on every case it receives. But its rulings will apply only as far as each platform’s rules allow concerning whether content is against them.[4] With what could be tens of thousands of cases a year, the centre plans to hire staff with expertise in particular regions, languages or policy areas from across the EU.

The Appeals Centre will finance its operations with 95 euros per case the tech companies will have to pay, plus a nominal 5 euro from users that will submit disputes. The fee has been implemented to stop system abuse, and if a user loses the case then the fee will be refunded [4]. But the centre’s launch also shows the EU upping its game when it comes to balancing free speech with the interests of censoring the proliferation of online risks, enabling citizens to fight the decisions made by the Big Tech companies.

Social media platforms are getting ready to work with the Appeals Centre Europe and they have to adjust their own approach to this layer of oversight. While the centre’s rulings, which are not binding, are unlikely to establish a standard across the EU, they’re expected to impact content moderation practises and, indeed, platform policy. The news of this development brings about a new era in the dealings between social media companies and their European users: more transparency, more accountability when it comes to moderation of content.