Appeals Centre Europe has been certified by Coimisiún na Meán as an out-of-court dispute settlement (ODS) body under Article 21 of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

Its first transparency report, published today, reveals that it received nearly 10,000 disputes from its establishment in November 2024 until August 2025.

Of these, more than 3,300 disputes fell within its current scope, which includes account suspensions and the removal or non-removal of online content.

More than 1,500 decisions have been issued, more than three-quarters of which have overturned decisions made by platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

The majority of the decisions recommending restoring a person’s content or account.

However, the report notes mixed co-operation among platforms, with YouTube singled out for failing to respond to requests for content.

Appeals Centre Europe has urged social media platforms to tell users about their right to out-of-court dispute settlement and to co-operate with such processes.

Thomas Hughes, CEO of Appeals Centre Europe, said: “Where platforms have engaged constructively, the benefits are clear. People get the decision they deserve, while platforms are protected from costly mistakes.

“However, in some cases, we’ve succeeded despite platforms, not because of them. For example, we’ve seen platforms refusing to share content, leaving us no choice but to issue ‘default decisions’ in favour of the user.

“We call on platforms to work with us to unlock the full potential of dispute settlement for people and organisations across the EU.”