The Appeals Centre Europe, a Dublin-based social media appeals body, has announced that it has expanded its scope and is now hearing cases relating to Instagram.
This is in addition to its previous remit, which covered Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
The centre opened in November 2024 and began issuing decisions in late January.
It hears disputes from people and organisations in Ireland and across the European Union about decisions by social media platforms relating to issues such as the removal of content.
In March, the centre said it had received more than 1,500 disputes from people across the EU looking to challenge the decisions of platforms.
The issues were most likely to be about potential violations of platforms’ rules on adult nudity, followed by bullying and harassment, and restricted goods and services, which govern how users can mention products like drugs and alcohol.
The decisions are non-binding but the Appeals Centre said Meta has already started implementing its findings, adding that it will release more information about this in its first transparency report which will be published by the middle of the year.
The Appeals Centre has been certified by the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán as an out-of-court dispute settlement (ODS) body under the EU’s set of online safety rules, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The start-up funding for the Appeals Centre has been provided through a one-time grant from the Meta Oversight Board Trust but the centre has insisted that it will be independent of Meta.
Once it is up and running, the new Appeals Centre will be funded through fees charged to social media companies for each case.
In the future, users who raise a dispute will be asked to pay what is described as a ‘nominal fee’ of €5, which is refunded if the centre finds in their favour.
The Appeals Centre said it will operate as an independent regulatory body that will provide an alternative to often costly and time-consuming legal routes to redress.
