EU Digital Services Act — Articles 16–22

DSA compliance for online platforms — without a legal team.

ClearAct gives your platform a complete notice-and-action workflow: receive content reports, make decisions, notify users, handle appeals, and generate every document the Digital Services Act requires.

Embed the widget. Start receiving reports. Stay compliant.

Widget screenshot
Built for EU Digital Services Act — Articles 16–22

The DSA applies to your platform. Are you ready?

Since February 2024, every online platform operating in the EU must accept reports of illegal content, act on them, explain decisions to affected users, and let them appeal. You need a Statement of Reasons for every restriction. You need an internal complaint mechanism. And if a regulator asks, you need an audit trail.

Most small and mid-size platforms have no process for any of this. ClearAct gives you one — in about fifteen minutes.

How it works

Four steps to a compliant workflow

1

Embed the widget

Add a single script tag to your site. Visitors get a reporting form that meets Article 16 requirements out of the box — content location, illegality grounds, reporter contact, good-faith declaration. Your brand, your colours.

2

Reports arrive in your dashboard

Every report is logged, timestamped, and tracked. Reporters get an automatic acknowledgement with a case reference. No reports lost in an inbox.

3

Decide and notify

Review the reported content, record your decision, and ClearAct generates a Statement of Reasons — the document Article 17 requires you to send to every affected user. One click.

4

Handle appeals

Affected users can appeal directly through a built-in complaint mechanism. You review, re-examine, and issue a final reasoned decision. Article 20, covered.

Features

Everything the regulation demands

Art. 16 · Art. 16(3)

Report intake

Your platform needs to let anyone — not just registered users — report illegal content. ClearAct's embeddable widget handles this. It collects everything Article 16 requires, confirms receipt to the reporter automatically, and routes reports to your dashboard. Customise categories, language, and appearance to match your site.

Widget embedded on sample platform
Reviewer dashboard
Art. 17

Decision workflow

A clean reviewer dashboard built for the daily loop: open reports, inspect linked content, record a decision, move on. ClearAct generates a fully structured Statement of Reasons from your decision — legal ground, factual basis, remedies, appeal instructions — and delivers it to the affected user automatically. No templates to fill in. No emails to compose.

Art. 20

Appeals & complaint handling

When a user disagrees with your decision, they need a way to challenge it — and Article 20 says you must provide one. ClearAct includes an appeal flow: the affected user submits a counter-argument, you re-examine the case, and the system records your final reasoned decision. The entire exchange is documented.

Appeal review screen
Transparency report view
Art. 15 · Art. 24(5)

Transparency & audit trail

Every report, decision, notification, and appeal is stored with full timestamps and an immutable audit log. When you need a transparency report, ClearAct generates it from your actual data — no manual compilation. When a regulator or court asks for documentation, you export it.

Art. 9 · Art. 18 · Art. 32

Authority orders & referrals

Track orders from Digital Services Coordinators with deadline countdowns and compliance status. Report suspected criminal content to law enforcement with structured referral forms. For marketplaces: notify purchasers when illegal products are detected.

Authority orders dashboard

Integration

One line of code

Add a single script tag to your platform. Users see a branded reporting button. Submissions arrive in your dashboard instantly. No build tools, no backend changes, no dependencies.

  • Single line of HTML — no build tools required
  • WCAG 2.1 AA accessible out of the box
  • Multi-language with automatic locale detection
  • Fully customisable to match your brand
index.html
<!-- Add to your platform -->
<script
  src="https://cdn.clearact.eu/widget.js"
  data-publishable-key="pk_live_xxx"
  data-lang="auto"
></script>

<!-- That's it.
     Users see a floating report button.
     Submissions go to your dashboard. -->

Pricing

Start free. Upgrade when you need to.

The free tier gives you a compliant reporting mechanism today. Paid tiers add the workflow that saves you hours every week.

Free

€0/month

Everything you need to start receiving reports compliantly.

  • Embeddable reporting widget (Article 16)
  • Automatic reporter acknowledgement
  • Report log with full history
  • Downloadable Statement of Reasons templates
  • 1 widget configuration
Get started free
Recommended

Starter

39/month

Stop filling in templates by hand. Get a proper workflow.

  • Reviewer dashboard with decision recording
  • Auto-generated Statements of Reasons (Article 17)
  • Automated user notifications
  • Built-in appeal & complaint mechanism (Article 20)
  • Basic analytics
  • 1 widget configuration · 1 reviewer seat
Start free trial

Professional

99/month

For platforms with a team and reporting obligations.

  • Up to 5 reviewer seats with role separation
  • Transparency report generation (Article 15)
  • EU Transparency Database submission (Article 24)
  • Widget white-labelling
  • Full data history & bulk export
  • Up to 5 widget configurations · 1 webhook endpoint
Start free trial

Enterprise

Custom

For platforms that need deep integration and full localisation.

  • Trusted Flagger priority queue (Article 22)
  • All EU languages
  • Custom email sending domain
  • Custom web domain
  • REST API access
  • Advanced analytics & SLA monitoring
  • Unlimited widgets · Unlimited webhooks
Contact us

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

If you operate an online platform where users can post content — a marketplace, forum, hosting service, social platform, review site — and you have users in the EU, the Digital Services Act likely applies to you. ClearAct handles the notice-and-action obligations (Articles 16–22) that apply to all hosting services, regardless of size.

The DSA defines "online platform" and "hosting service" broadly. If users can upload or publish content on your service and EU residents can access it, you should assume it applies. ClearAct's free tier lets you put compliant infrastructure in place at no cost while you assess your full obligations.

Yes. No credit card required, no time limit. The free tier gives you a working reporting widget, automatic acknowledgements, a report log, and Statement of Reasons templates. You can run on it indefinitely. Paid tiers add workflow automation — auto-generated documents, reviewer dashboards, appeal handling — that save time as report volume grows.

All data is stored in the EU.

Yes — upgrade or downgrade at any time. All your data is retained regardless of tier. If you downgrade, you lose access to tier-specific features but your full report history stays intact and becomes available again if you upgrade later.

Your data is retained after cancellation to ensure you can meet any outstanding regulatory obligations. You can export everything before or after cancelling.

ClearAct gives you the tools and document structure the DSA requires, but it does not provide legal advice. The Statement of Reasons templates and workflows are built to meet the regulation's structural requirements. Whether specific content is illegal under applicable national law is a legal judgment that remains yours or your legal counsel's to make.

Be compliant by the end of the day.

Embed the widget. Start receiving reports. Generate your first Statement of Reasons.

Get started free