The sheet to print
Reporting illegal content: the one-page file
Nine reflexes, in the order of the case, from the “report” button to the coordinator. Each carries the text it stands on.
File EU 2022/2065
This page is made to be printed: when printing, the whole screen around it disappears.
Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026
- 01
Use the electronic mechanism: it is the official channel
The hosting providers' notice mechanisms are the route organised by the Regulation: easy to access, exclusively electronic. A paper letter to the head office feels reassuring, but the form is what triggers the written obligations.
Article 16(1) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), Article 16 (Notice and action mechanisms), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 02
Arm your notice: exact URL, substantiated explanation, contact details, good faith
Those four elements are the ones the text lists. Attach your evidence: the more identifiable the illegality is without a detailed legal examination, the more the platform is legally bound.
Article 16(2) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 16(2): the elements of a notice · eur-lex.europa.eu - 03
Know why precision pays
A sufficiently precise and substantiated notice gives the hosting provider actual knowledge of the content. That knowledge is what engages its liability if the content stays online: vagueness disarms you, accuracy arms you.
Article 16(3) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 16(3): actual knowledge · eur-lex.europa.eu - 04
Archive the acknowledgement and demand the decision
Contact details provided, you are owed a confirmation of receipt without undue delay, then the notified decision with its possibilities for redress. Those two dated exhibits are the bedrock of every following remedy.
Article 16(4) and (5) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 16(4) and (5): the acknowledgement of receipt and the notified decision · eur-lex.europa.eu - 05
Invent no numbered deadline, demand the written diligence
This Regulation gives no countdown in hours: it imposes processing in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and the disclosure of any automated processing. That vocabulary is what gets pleaded, not an imaginary clock.
Article 16(6) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 16(6): the processing of notices · eur-lex.europa.eu - 06
After a refusal, open the internal complaint
Free, electronic, open for at least six months after the decision, and available to the person who reported. Reattach the whole file: where the refusal to act was unfounded, the platform must reverse its decision without undue delay.
Article 20(1) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 20 (Internal complaint-handling system), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 07
Remember the algorithm does not get the last word
Complaint decisions are taken under the supervision of appropriately qualified staff, not solely by automated means. An automatic refusal is the beginning of a procedure, not its end.
Article 20(6) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 20(6): qualified human supervision · eur-lex.europa.eu - 08
If one day it is YOUR content that gets restricted, a statement of reasons is owed to you
Removal, demotion, suspension of an account or of payments: the provider owes the affected recipient a clear and specific statement of reasons. The same Regulation protects both sides of the counter, and the remedies are the same.
Article 17(1) · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 17 (Statement of reasons), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 09
Complain to YOUR coordinator, and know the compensation route
The complaint for infringement of the Regulation is lodged with the Digital Services Coordinator of your country, which assesses and transmits where appropriate. And the text opens the right to seek compensation for damage, in accordance with Union and national law.
Article 53 · Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Article 53 (Right to lodge a complaint) · eur-lex.europa.eu
General information on the European baseline, not legal advice on your case. Independent educational site, unconnected to the institutions of the European Union. The redress links in this file point only to official bodies.
Sources checked on July 29, 2026. · https://depleindroit.odersa.org/en/fiches/le-signalement-d-un-contenu-illegal · Content licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What the law owes you
Every right with its amount or its deadline, the extract of the official text it rests on, and its address.
An easy, electronic notice mechanism
Providers of hosting services put in place mechanisms allowing any individual to report content they consider illegal: easy to access and user-friendly, exclusively by electronic means. The report form is the legal channel, not a suggestions box.
The official text · Article 16(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“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.”
An acknowledgement of receipt, then a decision with its remedies
If your notice carries your electronic contact details, the hosting provider sends you a confirmation of receipt without undue delay, then notifies you of its decision on the reported content, telling you the possibilities for redress against that decision.
The official text · Article 16(4) and (5)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“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. 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.”
Processing that is timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective
The Regulation sets no numbered deadline, and none should be invented: it imposes an enforceable manner of processing, and the obligation to tell you whether automated means served the decision.
The official text · Article 16(6)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“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.”
A free internal complaint, open for at least six months
Providers of online platforms give access, including to those who submitted a notice, to an internal complaint-handling system: electronic, free of charge, for at least six months after the decision. Where the complaint shows the refusal to act was unfounded, the decision is reversed without undue delay.
The official text · Article 20(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“1. Providers of online platforms shall provide recipients of the service, including individuals or entities that have submitted a notice, for a period of at least six months following the decision referred to in this paragraph, with access to an effective internal complaint-handling system that enables them to lodge complaints, electronically and free of charge, against the decision taken by the provider of the online platform upon the receipt of a notice […]”
Complaint decisions under qualified human supervision
Decisions taken on your complaint are taken under the supervision of appropriately qualified staff, and not solely by automated means. A machine-generated refusal never has the last word.
The official text · Article 20(6)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“6. Providers of online platforms shall ensure that the decisions, referred to in paragraph 5, are taken under the supervision of appropriately qualified staff, and not solely on the basis of automated means.”
The choice of a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body
The person who reported may select any body certified by a coordinator to resolve the dispute, including where the internal complaint resolved nothing. Certification requires impartiality and independence; the limit is written too: the body cannot impose a binding settlement.
The official text · Article 21(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“1. Recipients of the service, including individuals or entities that have submitted notices, addressed by the decisions referred to in Article 20(1) shall be entitled to select any out-of-court dispute settlement body that has been certified in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article in order to resolve disputes relating to those decisions, including complaints that have not been resolved by means of the internal complaint-handling system referred to in that Article.”
A complaint to your own country's coordinator
You have the right to lodge a complaint against a provider of intermediary services, for infringement of the Regulation, with the Digital Services Coordinator of the Member State where you are located. It assesses, transmits to the coordinator of establishment where appropriate, and you have the right to be heard and informed.
The official text · Article 53
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2065“Recipients of the service and any body, organisation or association mandated to exercise the rights conferred by this Regulation on their behalf shall have the right to lodge a complaint against providers of intermediary services alleging an infringement of this Regulation with the Digital Services Coordinator of the Member State where the recipient of the service is located or established. The Digital Services Coordinator shall assess the complaint and, where appropriate, transmit it to the Digital Services Coordinator of establishment, accompanied, where considered appropriate, by an opinion.”
This site is educational and independent: it is not an official site of the European Union, and this verdict is not legal advice on your case. The wordings quoted are copied from the official text, whose link appears under each right.
File EU 2022/2065
The items in this file
Every item has its own page. The situation is played here; what you keep, what you send and what you re-read live next door.