Transparency reports are an important tool for HSPs to prove their accountability, credibility, and trustworthiness, and to publish socially relevant information. Transparency reports contain important data about requests that HSPs receive from state actors worldwide and how these requests are handled, which is intended to make collaboration and cooperation with authorities and other state bodies transparent.1Trust & Safety Professional Association (2023). What Is A Transparency Report? TSPA. https://www.tspa.org/curriculum/ts-fundamentals/transparency-report/what-is-a-transparency-report/ Urman, A., & Makhortykh, M. (2023). How transparent are transparency reports? Comparative analysis of transparency reporting across online platforms. Telecommunications Policy, 47(3), 102477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2022.102477
Transparency reports also provide an overview of what measures the HSP has taken to enforce regulations (e.g. through content removal or other moderation measures). This includes the enforcement of (1) platform-specific policies (usually ToS; chapter 1), (2) rights such as copyright or trademark law, and (3) (local) legislation and regulations that result in content removal2Trust & Safety Professional Association (2023). What Is A Transparency Report? TSPA. https://www.tspa.org/curriculum/ts-fundamentals/transparency-report/what-is-a-transparency-report/. In the EU, local legislation includes the TCO Regulation and the Digital Services Act. Country-specific legislation may also be relevant, such as the Network Enforcement Act in Germany.
Transparency reports are typically published on a regular basis. The TCO Regulation states that this should be done (at least) once a year if a HSP has taken measures against terrorist content (TCO Regulation, 30).
From HSP to HSP, transparency reports and the metrics reported in them can vary greatly3Woolery, L., Budish, R., & Bankston, K. (2016). The transparency reporting toolkit. New America and The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.. For transparency reports in line with the TCO Regulation, there are specific requirements about what information needs to be included. You can read more about this in section 4 of this chapter.