Meta snubs EU appeals body on 4,600 wrongful user ban cases

Appeals Centre Europe, an independent dispute settlement body for EU social media users, has released a transparency report revealing that Meta consistently ignores requests to provide evidence in cases of alleged wrongful account bans. Out of more than 4,600 appeals from Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users, Meta supplied relevant content for review in fewer than 100 instances. The body stated that this lack of cooperation 'causes significant frustration among users' and undermines the independent review process. Under EU law, platforms must 'engage in good faith' with such bodies, but their decisions are not legally binding. Last year, the BBC received complaints from hundreds of users worldwide who said they had been wrongly banned with no recourse. Meta frequently overturned bans only after the BBC raised individual cases.

Beyond bans, the report assessed content moderation decisions. In over 1,400 hate speech cases, Appeals Centre Europe found that platforms failed to enforce their own policies and left up hateful content more than two-thirds of the time. Examples included racist comments comparing black footballers to monkeys on Instagram, antisemitic videos on YouTube, and an AI-generated Russia-Ukraine war misinformation video on TikTok. Across all platforms, social media companies did not provide relevant content for review in 72% of the more than 10,000 reports. The body also noted it receives no consistent data on whether its decisions are implemented and is pushing platforms to provide this information. YouTube said it is committed to engaging with the body, while TikTok referred to its own transparency reports showing millions of content removals.