EDRi files DSA legal complaint against X
EDRi and our member ApTI filed a DSA complaint against social media giant 'X' for breaching its obligations towards Trusted Flaggers.
X misleads Trusted Flaggers
Today, EDRi filed a DSA complaint against social media giant ‘X’ in the EU, together with our member ApTI Romania. Our investigation found that X is likely in breach of its obligations towards Trusted Flaggers by misleading them—in all tested languages except English—to submit illegal content notices on a wrong, non-functional online form.
As prescribed by the DSA, X provides an online form enabling users to notify the platform about potentially illegal content. The online form is available in various languages. However, in all the EU languages we tested, except English, the form also explicitly states that it should not be used by organisations that have been awarded the special Trusted Flagger status by their national Digital Services Coordinators. Instead, Trusted Flaggers are misled to a different form that is actually reserved for law enforcement, and that refuses any input provided by Trusted Flaggers or any other parties.
X therefore actively stifles the work of Trusted Flaggers on its platform and thereby infringes its obligation under Article 22(1) DSA to ensure that notices submitted by Trusted Flaggers “are given priority and are processed and decided upon without undue delay.”
No action from X despite EDRi and ApTI’s efforts
Before bringing this complaint, we, EDRi and ApTI, reached out to our contacts at X and requested they make the necessary changes in order to be in compliance with the DSA. While we received a friendly response claiming this was an “important issue” and promising to “share the information with the relevant teams so they can investigate further,” over a month later nothing has changed.
We recommend the enforcement authorities initiate proceedings against X and order the cessation of any infringements found and, if necessary, combine this with the imposition of a dissuasive fine.
UPDATE (March 20, 17:15): Just hours after filing the complaint in Ireland and sharing about it social media and on our website, we found that the previously faulty online forms misleading Trusted Flaggers had started being updated. This makes it evident that laws like the DSA are a powerful tool to reign in tech giants and make our online lives and experiences safer. It also reminds us of the important role civil society organisations like EDRi and ApTI are playing in the enforcement of EU’s digital rules by acting as watch dogs.