Targeted consultation: draft guidelines on trusted flaggers under the Digital Services Act (DSA)

The objective of this targeted consultation is to offer relevant stakeholders the opportunity to share their insights and contribute to the guidelines on trusted flaggers.

Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), organisations with specialised expertise and competence in identifying certain specific types of illegal online content can be designated as trusted flaggers. This allows them to help platforms identify more easily and quickly illegal content on their services. Platforms are required to prioritise the review of notices of illegal content from trusted flaggers in their designated area of expertise.

To ensure clarity on how this mechanism operates, the Commission has been developing guidelines on trusted flaggers. These guidelines, currently at the draft stage, aim to support stakeholders, including applicants and trusted flaggers, Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs) and online platforms.

The guidelines cover key aspects, such as:

• The eligibility criteria for trusted flaggers: only impartial organisations, free from political or other undue influence that may undermine their objectivity, and with proven expertise in detecting specific illegal content can qualify.
• The rules protecting the integrity of trusted flaggers, including procedures for revoking the status of trusted flagger in case of misuse.
• Technical and practical steps trusted flaggers and platforms should follow when preparing annual transparency reports and processing notices of illegal content.

How to participate

The Commission invites all stakeholders with relevant experience and expertise, including providers of online platforms, trusted flaggers, researchers, civil society organisations, to take part in this targeted consultation and share their views, good practices, recommendations and related evidence. Where possible, respondents are encouraged to provide practical examples and other supporting evidence in their responses to justify and substantiate their reasoning.

Details

The Commission may publish non-confidential replies and a summary report of all the replies to this targeted consultation.

After gathering feedback, the Commission plans to adopt the guidelines in the second half of 2026.