Are you aware of your rights online? Many have their content removed without any justification

According to a consumer survey commissioned by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom in late 2025, the rights of users of online platforms under the Digital Services Act, which has been in force for just over two years, remain poorly known. Only 28% of consumers reported they knew about their rights in situations where an online service hides, removes or restricts content, or where a user reports illegal content.

The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) obliges online platforms to increase the transparency and security of their services and to provide users with information on measures taken by service providers.

"The Digital Services Act strengthens the rights of users in online services. According to the survey, however, many consumers are not yet aware of these rights, while at the same time, they do not receive the responses they are entitled to from the platforms,” says Jarmo Riikonen, Head of Unit at Traficom.

Shortcomings in notifications from service providers

According to the survey, during the previous year, 12% of consumers had felt that some of the content they had posted had been removed or restricted without justification or that their account had been deleted from the online service.

Of the consumers whose content or account had been subject to the measures, only 44% received a notification from the service provider explaining the reasons for the measure. The notification contained no justifications for 38% of the respondents, and 16% of the respondents received no notification. The respondents reported the most shortcomings in the responses and justifications provided by Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Content that appears to be illegal is detected especially on social media

Nearly one in three consumers reported having detected content that they considered illegal in online services. In the survey, illegal content referred to, for example, unlawful visual material or images of counterfeit branded products or stolen goods.

Content that appeared illegal was most commonly (23%) detected in social media services. Such content had also been observed in online marketplaces (14%), video content sharing services (11%) and discussion services (3%).

Of the consumers who had detected content that appeared illegal, 49% reported their observations to the service provider.

The survey was conducted by Bilendi Oy as an online survey for 3,000 people over the age of 18. Of the respondents, 49.6% were men, 50.1% were women, and 0.3% were non-binary. Data were collected from 28 November to 8 December 2025. The margin of error in the survey is 1.8% in either direction.