What must a DSA illegal-content notice contain?
Article 16 requires providers of hosting services to offer easy-to-access, user-friendly electronic mechanisms for notices about specific items of information that a person or entity considers .
means information that is itself unlawful or is unlawful because it relates to an illegal activity, including the sale of products or provision of services that do not comply with EU law or Member State law consistent with EU law. A report alleging only that content violates platform terms is not an Article 16 illegal-content notice unless it also alleges illegality.
A notice gives rise to actual knowledge or awareness for the specific item only when it is precise and substantiated enough for a diligent hosting provider to identify the illegality without a detailed legal examination. That rule does not turn the notice mechanism into a general monitoring duty.
- Capture the reasoned explanation of why the notifier alleges the information is .
- Capture the exact electronic location, such as the URL or URLs, plus any content-type-specific details needed to identify the item.
- Capture the notifier's name and email address unless the Article 16 exception for certain child sexual abuse or exploitation offences applies.
- Capture the notifier's statement that they believe, in good faith, that the information and allegations are accurate and complete.
- Record whether the notice is sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated, because only sufficiently specific notices can create actual knowledge or awareness for the specific item.
How should a DSA Article 16 illegal-content notice be handled?
Handle it as a structured notice-and-action record: verify that the notice identifies a specific hosted item, includes a substantiated illegality explanation, gives the exact electronic location, includes required notifier details and good-faith confirmation, then process the notice in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary, and objective way.
Does every user report become DSA actual knowledge of ?
No. Under the DSA, a notice gives rise to actual knowledge or awareness only for the specific item of information when it allows a diligent hosting provider to identify the illegality without a detailed legal examination.
Can a notifier omit their name and email address?
Usually no. Article 16 requires the notifier's name and email address, but it makes an exception for information considered to involve offences covered by Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU on child sexual abuse and exploitation. The exception removes those two required fields; it does not reduce the need to identify the content and substantiate the alleged illegality.
Article 3(h) defines illegal content, while Article 16 sets the electronic notice mechanism, required notice elements, child-sexual-abuse-field exception, and actual-knowledge test.