A major transparency report from Appeals Centre Europe (ACE), an independent body established under the European Union’s Digital Services Act, reveals that major social media platforms—including Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube—are systematically failing to enforce their own hate speech policies. Between March 2025 and March 2026, ACE received more than 24,000 disputes from individuals and organisations across the EU, averaging roughly one complaint every 22 minutes.
In 70% of the 1,400 cases where ACE reviewed platforms’ decisions to leave up content flagged as hate speech, the body overturned the platform’s ruling. This included racist comments comparing Black footballers to monkeys, which were left up on Instagram after a UEFA Champions League match. Another case involved antisemitic videos posted on YouTube and shared by prominent figures in Poland, which remained online despite violating the platform’s hate speech policy.
Other forms of hate speech targeted religious minorities, Roma people, migrants, and LGBTQI+ communities. ACE also flagged an AI-generated deepfake video about the Russia-Ukraine war that was left up on TikTok, despite breaking the platform’s rules on misinformation.
Platform Performance and Regional Patterns
TikTok fared worst among the platforms assessed, with ACE overturning its decisions to leave up potential hate speech 83% of the time. Instagram followed at 74%, Facebook at 61%, and YouTube at 58%. “Our decisions are starting to reveal patterns of prominent and recurring issues with how social media platforms moderate content,” the report stated.
France generated the highest number of eligible disputes, followed by Belgium and Italy. The report also noted a surge in European users pushing back against platform decisions, with ACE receiving more than 30,000 disputes in total. Not all cases involved hate speech: one notable example involved a Czech photographer whose images were wrongly removed by Facebook under its rules on adult nudity and sexual activity.
“Online hate and harassment have real-world consequences for many people and communities,” said Thomas Hughes, CEO of Appeals Centre Europe. “In more than two-thirds of our decisions about hate speech, we found that platforms failed to enforce their own policies and left up hateful content. This goes to show that platforms don’t always get it right.”
The findings come amid broader European efforts to hold tech companies accountable. The EU’s Digital Services Act, which established ACE, is part of a regulatory push that also includes debates on how to make social media safer. Meanwhile, some member states are exploring additional measures: UK police chiefs have recently called for a ban on under-16s using social media, reflecting growing concern about online harms.
The report underscores the persistent challenge of moderating hate speech at scale, even as platforms invest in AI and human review teams. With ACE’s decisions now revealing clear patterns of failure, the pressure is mounting on both platforms and regulators to deliver more effective enforcement across the continent.
