Article 17

Statement of reasons

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Evaluation Scenarios (2 total)

Paragraph 1

Providers of hosting services shall provide a clear and specific statement of reasons to any affected recipients of the service for any of the following restrictions imposed on the ground that the information provided by the recipient of the service is illegal content or incompatible with their terms and conditions:

(a) any restrictions of the visibility of specific items of information provided by the recipient of the service, including removal of content, disabling access to content, or demoting content;
(b) suspension, termination or other restriction of monetary payments;
(c) suspension or termination of the provision of the service in whole or in part;
(d) suspension or termination of the recipient of the service's account.
Obligations (1)
Platforms must send a notification to a user that their content is affected by an enforcement decision, including: Priority: 56
  • removal of content or disabling access to content
  • demotion or restricting visibility of content
  • suspension, termination or restriction of monetary payments
  • suspension or termination of service provision
  • suspension or termination of user account
1 evaluation scenario
Evaluation Scenarios (1)
1 scenario
Users receive clear statement of reasons for content enforcement actions
dsa-17-1-enforcement-notification-v1
Given
  • A hosting service provider with enforcement decisions
  • Users whose content or accounts are affected by enforcement
When
  • Enforcement actions are taken against user content or accounts
Then
  • Should provide clear and specific statement of reasons to affected users
  • Should include all required information elements per paragraph 3 sub-items
  • Notification should be sent at latest when restriction is imposed
  • Should only apply when user contact details are known
  • Information should be clear, comprehensible and reasonably specific
Platform Types
all
Paragraph 2

Paragraph 1 shall only apply where the relevant electronic contact details are known to the provider. It shall apply at the latest from the date that the restriction is imposed, regardless of why or how it was imposed.

Paragraph 1 shall not apply where the information is deceptive high-volume commercial content.

No obligations: This section only contains exceptions
Evaluation Scenarios
No evaluation scenarios defined for this paragraph
Paragraph 3

The statement of reasons referred to in paragraph 1 shall at least contain the following information:

(a) information on whether the decision entails either the removal of, the disabling of access to, the demotion of or the restriction of the visibility of the information, or the suspension or termination of monetary payments related to that information, or imposes other measures referred to in paragraph 1 with regard to the information, and, where relevant, the territorial scope of the decision and its duration;
(b) the facts and circumstances relied on in taking the decision, including, where relevant, information on whether the decision was taken pursuant to a notice submitted in accordance with Article 16 or based on voluntary own-initiative investigations and, where strictly necessary, the identity of the notifier;
(c) where applicable, information on the use made of automated means in taking the decision, including information on whether the decision was taken in respect of content detected or identified using automated means;
(d) where the decision concerns allegedly illegal content, a reference to the legal ground relied on and explanations as to why the information is considered to be illegal content on that ground;
(e) where the decision is based on the alleged incompatibility of the information with the terms and conditions of the provider of hosting services, a reference to the contractual ground relied on and explanations as to why the information is considered to be incompatible with that ground;
(f) clear and user-friendly information on the possibilities for redress available to the recipient of the service in respect of the decision, in particular, where applicable through internal complaint-handling mechanisms, out-of-court dispute settlement and judicial redress.
Obligations (1)
Platforms must include all mandatory information elements in the statement of reasons for enforcement actions, covering: the specific measure taken (type, scope, duration), facts and circumstances behind the decision, use of automated means, legal or contractual grounds with explanations, and clear redress information. Priority: 72
1 evaluation scenario
Evaluation Scenarios (1)
1 scenario
Statement of reasons contains all mandatory information elements
dsa-17-3-statement-content-completeness-v1
Given
  • A provider of hosting services has taken an enforcement action against a user's content or account under Article 17(1)
  • The user's electronic contact details are known
When
  • The platform issues the statement of reasons for that enforcement action
Then
  • The statement must include a clear description of the specific measure taken (removal, disabling access, demotion, visibility restriction, suspension or termination of payments, service, or account), including its territorial scope and duration where relevant
  • The statement must include the facts and circumstances that led to the decision, including whether it was based on a notice submitted under Article 16 or voluntary own-initiative investigation, and where strictly necessary the identity of the notifier
  • The statement must indicate whether automated means were used in detecting or deciding the case, including if the decision was taken on automatically identified content
  • If the content is considered illegal, the statement must include the legal ground relied upon and an explanation why the content is considered illegal on that ground
  • If the content is considered incompatible with the platform's terms, the statement must include the contractual ground relied upon and an explanation why the content violates those terms
  • The statement must include clear and user-friendly information on available redress options, including internal complaint-handling, out-of-court dispute settlement (Article 21), and judicial redress
  • The statement must be clear, comprehensible, and precise enough for the user to effectively exercise redress options
Platform Types
all
Paragraph 4

The information provided by the providers of hosting services in accordance with this Article shall be clear and easily comprehensible and as precise and specific as reasonably possible under the given circumstances. The information shall, in particular, be such as to reasonably allow the recipient of the service concerned to effectively exercise the possibilities for redress referred to in of paragraph 3, point (f).

No obligations: This section requires further analysis to identify specific obligations
Evaluation Scenarios
No evaluation scenarios defined for this paragraph
Paragraph 5

This Article shall not apply to any orders referred to in Article 9.

No obligations: This section only contains exceptions
Evaluation Scenarios
No evaluation scenarios defined for this paragraph
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