Trusted Flagger

A trusted flagger is an entity officially recognised by a Digital Services Coordinator for its expertise in identifying and reporting illegal content online. Trusted flaggers submit notices to online platforms and search engines that must be processed with priority, helping to combat illegal content more efficiently across the EU.

Legal Basis

"Trusted flagger" means an entity designated by a Digital Services Coordinator that has demonstrated expertise and competence in detecting, identifying and notifying illegal content, and represents collective interests and has a legitimate interest in notifying illegal content.

— Article 3, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act)

Must process notices from trusted flaggers with priority and without delay.

— Article 22, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065

Why It Matters

Trusted flaggers play a critical role in keeping online platforms safe during elections and beyond. When platforms receive notices from trusted flaggers about illegal political advertising, hate speech, or disinformation, they must prioritise these reports. This fast-track system helps remove harmful content more quickly than regular user reports.

For political campaigns and publishers, trusted flaggers provide an important safeguard. Civil society organisations, fact-checkers, and election monitoring bodies can be designated as trusted flaggers, giving them a direct channel to report violations of the transparency rules under Regulation 2024/900 or other illegal content affecting electoral processes.

Online platforms and publishers must establish internal processes to handle trusted flagger notices differently from ordinary reports. This means having dedicated review workflows, shorter response times, and clear escalation procedures for flagged content related to political advertising.

Key Points

Official designation: Only Digital Services Coordinators can designate entities as trusted flaggers based on demonstrated expertise
Priority processing: Platforms must handle trusted flagger notices faster than regular user reports
Specialised focus: Trusted flaggers typically focus on specific categories of illegal content (hate speech, election interference, etc.)
Collective interest: Trusted flaggers must represent broader public or collective interests, not individual commercial interests
Expertise required: Designation requires proven competence in detecting and identifying specific types of illegal content
DSA framework: The trusted flagger system applies across all online platforms and search engines under the Digital Services Act

Trusted Flagger vs. Regular User Reports

The main difference between trusted flaggers and ordinary users lies in how platforms must process their reports. Any user can report illegal content through a platform's notice and action mechanism under Article 16 of the DSA. However, platforms must treat reports from trusted flaggers with priority, meaning faster review and action.

Trusted flaggers also differ from competent authorities. While both receive expedited treatment, competent authorities (such as election commissions or media regulators) can issue binding orders under Article 9 of the DSA. Trusted flaggers submit notices that platforms must review quickly, but the platform still makes the final decision on content removal.

Feature	Trusted Flagger	Regular User	Competent Authority
Official designation	Yes	No	Yes
Priority processing	Yes	No	Yes
Binding orders	No	No	Yes
Expertise required	Yes	No	Yes

Related Terms

Political advertising
Digital Services Coordinator
Notice and action mechanism
Illegal content
Online platform
Publisher
Competent authority
Transparency notice
Digital Services Act
Election integrity

Very transparent. Every political ad will be labelled, linked to a transparency notice with detailed information, and online ads will be searchable in a central European repository.

The Network coordinates election-related cooperation between member states. National contact points for TTPA enforcement should be members of this network where possible.

Election campaigns will need to ensure all paid advertising includes proper labels and transparency notices. Sponsors must be prepared to provide required information to all service providers.

Several major platforms currently do not allow paid political advertising, including some large social networks. This limits where political actors can place paid online advertisements.

The TTPA applies from 10 October 2025. Member States had until 10 April 2025 to designate competent authorities, and the Commission must provide label templates by 10 July 2025.

Publishers must ensure completeness and accuracy of certain information but are not required to verify all sponsor claims. They must correct manifestly erroneous information when they become aware of it.

Yes. When a hosting provider and a website both display an ad, both are considered publishers with responsibility for their specific services. Contracts should clarify how they share compliance duties.

If a publisher removes or disables access to a political ad due to illegality or terms violations, they must still provide access to the transparency information for the full seven-year retention period.