The Transparency Reporting Toolkit: Content Takedown Reporting

As the internet has become an increasingly important tool for free expression around the world, major platforms and networks that carry that expression have assumed the role of speech gatekeepers, often removing or blocking users' content for various legal or policy reasons. Currently, some internet and telecommunications companies disclose some data on how much content they are removing and why in their transparency reports. However, this reporting varies significantly from company to company, and often lacks the clarity and granularity required to provide meaningful accountability for the companies themselves or the various government and private parties demanding content takedowns. This toolkit surveys how 35 global internet and telecommunications companies report on six categories of content takedowns and offers a set of guiding best practices on how their reporting can be improved going forward, with a focus on making them clearer, more detailed, and more standardized across companies.