All eyes were on Mark Zuckerberg and his $900,000 watch recently, as he unveiled his promise to return to Meta’s “roots” of “free expression”. The reactions were swift and emotional, but artists acutely aware of the limits to their expression online looked on warily. On Meta platforms, and beyond, punitive and badly applied content moderation policies have long limited artists’ reach, removed their artwork, restricted their actions and threatened their livelihoods. In seeking remedy the only avenue has been appealing to the black box judgement of the platforms themselves. But all that is changing for artists in Europe. Out-of-court dispute settlement bodies (ODS bodies) give platform users the chance to bring content moderation issues to professionals in digital and human rights, escaping the black box issue.
ODS bodies are third-party groups enabled by Article 21 of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) to advocate for users facing content moderation issues, and promote transparency and accountability from platforms. They offer affordable services specifically designed to target the platform and decision in question. Users who want to challenge a content moderation decision can submit their case to any of the bodies (at present there are five), where it is reviewed by lawyers and experts based on human rights and the policies of the platform. The final result from a successful case is a recommendation made to the platform—one it is not obligated to apply, but is obligated to listen to and provide a rationale for.
This might sound reminiscent of Meta’s Oversight Board, which has been in operation since 2020. The Oversight Board, however, only deals with Meta’s decisions, only takes a few cases a year, and has faced doubts among users over its independence. An ODS body is unaffiliated and focused on leveraging the accountability and transparency required from platforms, to defend digital rights and promote research. Meta and other platforms have frustrated many researchers over the years with limited access to their inner workings and decisions, but the ODS bodies are intent on sharing what they learn. Thomas Hughes, a former director of Meta’s Oversight Board, who is heading up the Dublin-based ODS body Appeals Centre Europe, recently told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “We will share trends and broader images that third parties can use, for example journalists, researchers, academics, civil society organisations, to strengthen their work.”
Greater expertise
Each ODS body is platform-focused, but many already see potential for a shift to issues-focused bodies. “This is certainly something I could see developing and personally hope for,” Raphael Kneer, managing director of the ODS body User Rights, tells The Art Newspaper. “As more users become involved with out-of-court dispute bodies, there is an opportunity for specialisation—such as groups focused on artistic freedom, child safety, misinformation or hate speech—so that each body can address complex issues with greater expertise.”
Social media platforms have become essential tools for artists’ visibility and livelihoods, so for those who face unfair restrictions online, the idea of an office of professionals fighting for you in the name of artistic freedom is akin to a dream. But why do so few know about this opportunity? “Out-of-court dispute settlement within social media is such a new concept, hardly anyone has heard of it,” Kneer says. “Artists should know that out-of-court dispute resolution bodies like ours exist to support their rights to creative expression online.”
But, after years of struggle and disappointment, artists may be exhausted by the idea of trusting a new process. “Personally, I don’t know if I would use it due to time and how willing I am to go through another third party when my art gets taken down,” says the Paris-based painter Armando Cabba. Cabba has been a vocal opponent to the censorship of his paintings online, but even he has grown dubious that real change is possible—and he is not alone. For artists on Instagram, in particular, increased transparency over recent years on the platform has paradoxically created more frustration over ill-defined guidelines that seem to target more art than ever before.
This opportunity for European artists to take content moderation issues out of the hands of platforms will only ultimately be as useful and productive as the engagement it receives—more engagement means stronger analyses and recommendations for platforms and future policy. For artists who do make use of it, the possibility for specialisation presents a particularly attractive outcome, meaning that artists could take their cases to bodies that understand their particular concerns and risks, and fight for their free expression in ways no other group has yet been able to do. Artists’ engagement with ODS bodies could potentially change bad policies for good, and set the example for other governments to promote similar access to transparent, effective avenues for redress and digital rights—an alternative to Zuckerberg’s plan, and what Kneer sees as “a new and different concept for allowing free and safe expression on the internet with independent and impartial actors”.
• Emma Shapiro is editor-at-large of the Don’t Delete Art project
