EU appeals body criticizes YouTube for blocking DSA dispute reviews

Appeals Centre Europe (ACE), the EU’s independent out-of-court dispute body under the Digital Services Act (DSA), issued its first transparency report covering November 2024 to August 2025. The report criticizes limited cooperation from major platforms, identifying YouTube as the most non-responsive. ACE’s mandate includes reviewing user challenges to content moderation decisions—such as removals and account suspensions—and requires platforms to provide sufficient information to adjudicate disputes.

ACE reported that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Threads were slow to engage, but YouTube provided no content in eligible cases, constraining the centre’s ability to decide disputes. Of 343 YouTube matters within scope, ACE reached decisions in only 29 due to missing data. In instances where platforms withheld information, ACE often ruled for users, citing denial of meaningful access to the out-of-court mechanism envisioned by the DSA.

YouTube contested ACE’s findings, arguing the centre lacks necessary privacy safeguards to share user data and pointing to its own internal appeals system. The tension underscores ongoing implementation challenges for DSA dispute mechanisms, which seek to balance transparency, user redress, and data protection obligations. ACE described dispute-settlement bodies as largely unknown across Europe and indicated plans to raise awareness and improve uptake.

The report also noted scale: nearly 10,000 disputes received, with about 1,500 decisions issued in more than 3,300 in-scope cases. The DSA remains politically sensitive, facing criticism in Washington from allies of US President Donald Trump who portray it as foreign censorship. For EU practitioners, the case highlights compliance risk for very large online platforms, especially regarding cooperation protocols, privacy safeguards, and effective access to out-of-court redress.