Slay the Web: A Comprehensive Guide to Nailing Online Hazards, Harassment, and Nastiness
Online intimidation, offensive remarks, and menacing behavior: strategies for reporting such incidents
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If you're bombarded with online outrage, digital distress, bogus merchandise, or unscrupulous practices, it's high time to take matters into your own hands. Here's how to unleash a report like a pro!
Whether it's vile posts on social networking sites, deceitful merchandise on online marketplaces, or consumer rights violations such as deceptive designs on platforms, anyone who suspects shady business online ought to report it. But to whom?
Enter the superheroes of the digital world, known as Trusted Flaggers. After filling out their online form, these responders will conduct an investigation and, should the need arise, notify the relevant platform or service.
Trusted Flaggers: Switzerland's Secret Weapon Against Internet Toxicity
Trusted Flaggers, or reliable informants, are created by the EU's law on digital markets, also known as the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA aims to make online platforms more transparent and morally upright in dealing with content and products.
But why should you bother reporting issues directly to the respective platform? There's a sound reason: If a report of suspected illegal content comes from a certified Trusted Flagger, the platform operator must promptly tackle it, for example, by deleting the offending content, as per the Federal Network Agency of Germany[1].
Enough to Make the Four Newbies Blush: Recently Certified Trusted Flaggers
Until recently, only Respect, the reporting body of the Baden-Württemberg Youth Foundation, which focuses on hate and harassment, has been given the nod. The Federal Network Agency has now approved four additional trustworthy informants:
- Hate aid, zeroing in on digital bullying, scams, and trickery, primarily on social media platforms.
- Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv), concentrating on online marketplaces and social media platforms concerning consumer rights, product safety, online trading, and fraud.
- Bundesverband Onlinehandel (BVOH), focusing on intellectual property protection and dodgy competition, mainly on online marketplaces. The association typically handles claims from its members, usually involving copyright infringements or suspected competition violations.
When Platforms Prefer to Ignore: Show 'Em Who's Boss
The Federal Network Agency and the Trusted Flaggers do not remove content themselves. Instead, they rely on the respective platform or service to decide whether content warrants erasure. If platforms decline to remove content, they are required to provide an explanation for their decision.
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The decisions made by a platform can always be appealed by the person making the report or the affected party through the platform itself, an out-of-court dispute resolution body, or the legal system. The court eventually determines the legality of the content and whether it must be purged or retained[2].
Source: ntv.de, awi/dpa
- Marco Buschmann
- Federal Ministry of Justice
- Traffic Light Coalition
- Social Networks
- Hateful Comments
- Network Enforcement Act
- Cyberbullying
- IT Security
- Legal Issues
- Social Media
- The newly certified Trusted Flaggers, such as Hate aid and Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv), can help combat digital bullying, fraud, and consumer rights violations on social media and online marketplaces, as they are empowered to report such issues to the respective platforms under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).
- If a platform fails to address reported illegal content from a Trusted Flagger, the person making the report or the affected party can appeal the decision through the platform itself, an out-of-court dispute resolution body, or the legal system, ultimately resulting in a court determination regarding the legality of the content and its removal or retention.
