The adoption of the EU Digital Services Act allowed for the creation of Out-of-court Dispute resolution Service (ODS) bodies to give users a way of challenging content decisions by major platforms. The trustees of the Meta Oversight Board believed there was scope for seed funding to be used to create a body which would handle disputes at scale across Europe. Once certified, the new body would have to reach a mass-market audience to generate the volumes of casework that would make the body sustainable as an organisation.

H/Advisors supported the creation and launch of the Appeals Centre from its genesis, through to its eventual certification in Ireland as an ODS body. We identified suitable member state regulators most amenable to being among the first to consider ODS bodies, gauged sentiment from a range of social media platforms, and held meetings with EU officials in Brussels, other social platforms and civil society organisations across Europe. We tested sentiment towards different names for the body, and worked on its brand strategy.

The Appeals Centre succeeded in being certified by the Irish media regulator in October 2024. Within a few weeks it had become operational and began accepting cases from Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Media coverage was mostly neutral and positive, with the message that the Appeals Centre was independent from both the Oversight Board and Meta landing well among key opinion formers.