Article 16

Para. 1

Providers of hosting services shall put mechanisms in place to allow any individual or entity to notify them of the presence on their service of specific items of information that the individual or entity considers to be illegal content. Those mechanisms shall be easy to access and user-friendly, and shall allow for the submission of notices exclusively by electronic means.

Obligations (1)

Notice Mechanism Provision

Hosting service providers must provide easy to access and friendly electronic mechanisms for anyone to report suspected illegal content.

eu-dsa-16-1-notice-mechanism-provision

Product behavior Critical Priority

Para. 2

The mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1 shall be such as to facilitate the submission of sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated notices. To that end, the providers of hosting services shall take the necessary measures to enable and to facilitate the submission of notices containing all of the following elements:

(a) a sufficiently substantiated explanation of the reasons why the individual or entity alleges the information in question to be illegal content;

(b) a clear indication of the exact electronic location of that information, such as the exact URL or URLs, and, where necessary, additional information enabling the identification of the illegal content adapted to the type of content and to the specific type of hosting service;

(c) the name and email address of the individual or entity submitting the notice, except in the case of information considered to involve one of the offences referred to in Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU;

(d) a statement confirming the bona fide belief of the individual or entity submitting the notice that the information and allegations contained therein are accurate and complete.

Obligations (1)

Notice Requirements Facilitation

Hosting service providers must facilitate submission of notices containing all required elements, as described below

eu-dsa-16-2-notice-requirements-facilitation

Product behavior Critical Priority

Para. 3

Notices referred to in this Article shall be considered to give rise to actual knowledge or awareness for the purposes of Article 6 in respect of the specific item of information concerned where they allow a diligent provider of hosting services to identify the illegality of the relevant activity or information without a detailed legal examination.

Obligations (1)

Legal Awareness

If the report has enough content to assess its alleged illegality, then the company becomes legally aware of the illegal content.

eu-dsa-16-3-legal-awareness

See statement

Statement

“We acknowledge that notices submitted under Article 16, where they are sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated, give rise to actual knowledge or awareness for the purposes of Article 6 in respect of the specific item of information concerned, where they allow a diligent provider to identify the illegality of the relevant activity or information without a detailed legal examination.”

Acknowledgement Critical Priority

Para. 4

Where the notice contains the electronic contact information of the individual or entity that submitted it, the provider of hosting services shall, without undue delay, send a confirmation of receipt of the notice to that individual or entity.

Obligations (1)

Notice Acknowledgment

The hosting provider must quickly send receipt confirmations for notices when contact information is provided

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Product behavior Critical Priority

Para. 5

The provider shall also, without undue delay, notify that individual or entity of its decision in respect of the information to which the notice relates, providing information on the possibilities for redress in respect of that decision.

Obligations (1)

Notice Decision Notification

The hosting provider must notify submitters of decisions on their notices with appeal/redress information as soon as decision is made

eu-dsa-16-5-notice-decision-notification

See evidence guidance

Evidence guidance

Upload one or more of: (a) the template of the decision-notification email sent to the person who submitted the notice, including redress options (e.g. complaint, out-of-court dispute resolution, court); (b) a real (redacted) communication that shows the same content; (c) a log extract with timestamps for decision-made and notification-sent events, so the time between the two is visible.

Policy Update Critical Priority

Para. 6

Providers of hosting services shall process any notices that they receive under the mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1 and take their decisions in respect of the information to which the notices relate, in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner. Where they use automated means for that processing or decision-making, they shall include information on such use in the notification referred to in paragraph 5.

Obligations (2)

Notice Automation Disclosure

Where automated means are used for notice processing or decision-making, this must be disclosed to the notice submitter in the decision notification

eu-dsa-16-6-notice-automation-disclosure

Policy Update Critical Priority

Notice Processing Standards

The hosting provider must process notices and make decisions in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner

eu-dsa-16-6-notice-processing-standards

See evidence guidance

Evidence guidance

Upload the internal policy or standard-operating-procedure for reviewing reports of illegal content. It should describe (i) a commitment to timely assessment, (ii) the criteria used (including local law), and (iii) how objectivity is preserved. If available, attach a log extract showing time-to-decision for recent notices.

Policy Update Critical Priority

Notice and action mechanisms