The online-safety watchdog has released details of how organisations can apply to become ‘trusted flaggers’, who can identify illegal content on platforms.

Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) can award the trusted-flagger status under article 22 of the Digital Services Act.

The designation allows trusted flaggers to work within designated areas of expertise to identify illegal content.

Where they identify illegal content, they can submit a notice to the relevant online platform.

Bodies must be independent

ComReg had proposed that it would conduct electronic word searches on the seized data to seek to exclude any legally privileged or irrelevant material.

Eir, however, submitted that it would be more appropriate for it to conduct these searches, to preserve confidentiality over the legally privileged documents.

In a note on the firm’s website, the Matheson lawyers explain that, in the event of a dispute, the Communications Regulation Act 2002 provides for the High Court to determine whether documents are legally privileged.

Applicant bodies must:

• Have expertise and competence for the purposes of detecting, identifying, and notifying illegal content,
• Be independent from any provider of online platforms, and
• Carry out their activities for the purposes of submitting notices diligently, accurately, and objectively.

The regulator has published guidance and an application form on its website.