Send a statement of reasons
What the Article 17 statement the platform composes for each take-down or demotion says, and how to get it to the person affected.
When you take down or demote content after a notice, Article 17 of the DSA requires a clear and specific statement of reasons for the person who provided it. The platform composes the statement from your decision. Sending it is up to you.
When a statement is owed
Article 17(1) covers restrictions: removing content, disabling access to it, demoting it or otherwise restricting its visibility, as well as suspending, ending or otherwise restricting payments, and suspending or ending the service or an account. The platform composes a statement for a Take-down or Demote decision. A Leave up decision restricts nothing, so no statement is composed and the checklist marks that row N/A.
Article 17(2) applies the duty where you know the person's electronic contact details. The platform doesn't hold them: a notice records the reporter, not the person whose content was reported.
What the statement says
The statement appears in the decided notice's drawer under Statement of Reasons, marked Filed, as soon as you confirm the decision. Each line comes from what you entered when deciding:
| Line | Taken from | Article 17(3) |
|---|---|---|
| Decision and its date | The decision you confirmed | Point (a) |
| Content concerned | The notice's links | Point (a) |
| Ground relied on | Illegal content or Breach of our terms | Point (d) or (e) |
| Facts and circumstances relied on | Your Legal basis | Point (b) |
| Automated means | Whether you ticked automated means | Point (c) |
| Redress | The last day of your appeal window, plus out-of-court settlement and the courts | Point (f) |
The ground line cites Article 17(3)(d) whichever ground you chose. For Breach of our terms, change it to point (e) before you send it.
Because the statement is built from the decision, there's no draft to file and nothing to edit: it says what the decision says.
What to add before you send it
Article 17(3) asks for some details the statement has no line of its own for. Where they apply, add them to the copied text before you send it:
- The territorial scope and duration of the restriction (point (a)).
- That the decision followed a notice under Article 16 (point (b)).
- The specific law, or the clause of your terms, that the content breaches, and why (points (d) and (e)), if your Legal basis doesn't already say so.
- How to lodge an internal complaint. The statement gives the deadline but not where to send it.
Send it
- Open the decided notice in Compliance › Content Safety › Reports.
- Under Statement of Reasons, select Copy statement.
- Paste it into a message to the person whose content you restricted, add anything from the list above, and send it from your own channel.
Article 17(2) applies the duty from the day the restriction is imposed at the latest. On an online platform, Article 20(2) also starts that person's six months to complain on the day they're told of the decision.
Online platforms and the Commission's database
If you run an online platform, Article 24(5) also requires you to submit each decision and statement of reasons, without personal data, to the Commission's publicly accessible database. The platform doesn't submit them for you. Article 19 exempts online platforms that are micro or small enterprises, unless they've been designated very large online platforms.