Removals: account takedowns, fake profiles, negative content and reputation

Four areas, one method

Removal requests fall into a small number of families, and the family decides the route. Account matters concern a whole profile: who runs it and what it exists to do, whether that is defrauding buyers, harassing one person or returning under a new name after a ban. Impersonation is its own family, because platforms usually want the report from the person or brand being copied. Content matters concern a single post, image, video or page, whoever posted it. Reputation matters concern what appears about a person or business in search results and on review sites, which is often a copy of material held somewhere else.

The distinction is practical rather than academic. A fake profile goes through the platform's identity process; a stolen photograph on that same profile goes through a copyright notice; a search result showing a home address can be delisted by Google while the page behind it stays online. Filing under the wrong family is one of the most common reasons a valid complaint fails.

What each entry sets out

Every entry opens with a short answer to the main question, then covers the policy or law that applies, who is entitled to file, the evidence that makes a report verifiable and the limits MassReport applies. Sources are official ones: platform help centers, statutes and regulators. Where a law sets a deadline or a required format, the entry says so; where a platform publishes no timeframe, the entry says that too.

Two public records are useful alongside these entries. The EU's DSA Transparency Database collects the statements of reasons platforms issue when they restrict content or accounts, and the Lumen database holds copies of many legal removal notices sent to search engines and hosts.

Scope of the index

Entries cover accounts and content that break a platform's rules or the law. None of them explains how to remove lawful criticism, honest reviews or accounts that simply compete with someone, because no legitimate route exists for that. New entries are added here as they are published; a case that fits none of them can still go through the contact page, and the reply will say which route applies, if any does.

Published removal pages

• No removal pages are published yet. The first ones are being prepared; until then the front page describes every kind of matter MassReport files.