Reporting illegal content and abuse

Version 1.0, valid from 14 August 2026.

This document describes our notice and action mechanism as referred to in article 16 of the Digital Services Act, and the way in which we give reasons for our decisions as referred to in article 17.

This English text is a translation provided for convenience. The Dutch version is the legally binding one.

Would you like to report something? Use our report form. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt with a reference number and, later, an email with the decision.

Go to the report form →

1. What we can and cannot see

Messages, files and conversations in SPREQ are end-to-end encrypted. We cannot read that content, not even after a report. We therefore cannot establish for ourselves what was said in a private conversation.

What we can assess:

What you can provide to us as a reporter:

On that basis we can take measures against an account, even though we do not know the content of the conversation ourselves.

2. How to report

Anyone can report, including without a SPREQ account.

3. What a report must contain

To be able to assess a report, we need:

  1. An explanation of why you believe the content or behaviour is illegal or in breach of our House rules
  2. A clear indication of what is concerned: the profile number, the username, the company name or the advertisement
  3. Your name and email address, except for reports about child sexual abuse material or other sexual offences. There you may report anonymously
  4. A declaration that you believe in good faith that the report is accurate and complete

Evidence such as screenshots helps, but is not required.

3a. Including messages

If you report someone from within a conversation, you can choose to include the last 5 messages you have received from that user. This is optional. You tick it yourself.

How this works:

If you do not include any messages, we will still handle the report. In that case we can only assess what is visible outside the encrypted conversation.

4. How we handle a report

StepDeadline
Acknowledgement of receiptimmediately, automatically
Initial assessmentwithin 2 working days
Decision and feedback to the reporterwithin 10 working days
In urgent cases, such as danger to personsthe same day

We have reports assessed by a member of staff. We do not use automated decision-making to block accounts. Where we do nevertheless deploy automated means somewhere, for example against spam, we state this in the decision.

We assess carefully, objectively and without arbitrariness. We take account of freedom of expression and of the right to private communication.

5. What measures we can take

6. What the user is told

If we take a measure, we send the user concerned a statement of reasons that includes:

We only disclose the identity of the reporter where this is strictly necessary and legally permitted.

7. Objection

Both the reporter and the user concerned can lodge an objection within 6 months via abuse@spreq.nl.

A member of staff who was not involved in the original decision reassesses it. You will receive a substantive response within 14 days.

If you cannot reach a resolution with us, you can go to court. You can also lodge a complaint with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, which supervises the Digital Services Act in the Netherlands.

8. Serious criminal offences

If we suspect that a criminal offence has been committed or is threatened in which the life or safety of persons is at risk, we report this immediately to the police or another competent authority. This follows from article 18 of the Digital Services Act.

We always report child sexual abuse material.

9. Misuse of the reporting system

If you repeatedly submit reports that are clearly unfounded, we will warn you first. If this continues thereafter, we can temporarily restrict your ability to report. The ability to report serious matters always remains open.

10. Orders from authorities

If we receive an order from a competent authority to remove illegal content or to provide information, we act on it in accordance with our policy Requests from the police, prosecutors and authorities. We inform the user concerned, unless this is not legally permitted.

11. Transparency

We keep track of how many reports we receive, which measures we take and how many objections there are. As soon as we are required to do so, we publish an annual transparency report about this on spreq.nl.

12. Contact points

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