Coimisiún na Meán outlines how interested entities can apply for Trusted Flagger status

Under Article 22 of the Digital Services Act, Coimisiún na Meán may award the status of Trusted Flagger. Trusted Flaggers will work within designated areas of expertise to identify illegal content. Where a Trusted Flagger identifies illegal content, they may submit a notice to the relevant online platform. Online platforms will be legally obliged to give their notices priority, and to process and decide on these reports without undue delay.

Bodies such as non-governmental organisations, industry federations and trade associations, members of established fact-checkers networks, trade unions, non-regulatory public entities and private or semi-public bodies may become Trusted Flaggers.

To become a Trusted Flagger, an applicant body must:

• have expertise and competence for the purposes of detecting, identifying and notifying illegal content;
• be independent from any provider of online platforms;    
• carry out its activities for the purposes of submitting notices diligently, accurately and objectively.

Coimisiún na Meán can now award Trusted Flagger status to organisations which meet the above conditions and is encouraging qualified entities to consider applying. We have recently published guidance and an application form on our website and any interested organisations are encouraged to read this guidance and to contact trustedflaggerapplications@cnam.ie with any questions that they might have.

• Article 22 Trusted Flaggers: Application Form and Guidance