Article 22 of the Digital Services Regulation (RSD) establishes the status of trusted flagger.
Trusted flaggers are entities that detect, identify and notify online platforms of illegal content.
Online platforms shall give priority to notifications submitted by trusted flaggers acting within their designated area of expertise, ensuring that such notifications are subject to a decision without undue delay.
Who assigns trusted flagger status
The status of "trusted flagger" shall be awarded, upon application by any entity, by the Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) of the Member State in which the applicant is established.
Digital Services Coordinators shall communicate the names, addresses and email addresses of the entities to which they have awarded trusted flagger status to the Commission and the European Board for Digital Services. The Commission shall publish this information in a publicly available database.
Conditions for granting trusted flagger status
Trusted flagger status is granted upon application by any entity that has demonstrated that it meets the following conditions1:
- It has particular expertise and competence for the purpose of detecting, identifying and notifying illegal content;
- It is independent from any provider of online platforms;
- It carries out its activities for the purposes of submitting notices diligently, accurately and objectively.
Requesting trusted flagger status
Entities established in Portugal seeking recognised trusted flagger status should submit a request to ANACOM, as DSC, by email to dsc@anacom.pt.
Oversight of trusted flaggers
The DSC may open an investigation into a trusted flagger on its own initiative or based on information received from third parties, including an online platform provider.
When a platform has information indicating that a trusted flagger has submitted a significant number of inaccurate, inadequately substantiated or insufficiently precise notices in connection to the processing of complaints through the internal complaint-handling systems, it shall communicate that information to the Digital Services Coordinator, providing the necessary explanations and supporting documents. If the DSC decides to initiate an investigation, trusted flagger status shall be suspended during the investigation period2.
Where, after completing an investigation, the DSC concludes that the entity no longer meets the necessary conditions of trusted flagger status, it will revoke this status following a prior hearing of the entity3 .
