DSA Transparency Report

App Store

February 2025

In accordance with Articles 15, 24 and 42 of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), this transparency report provides information on orders and notices of illegal content received by the App Store¹ and content moderation that the App Store has undertaken on its own initiative.² This report covers the reporting period between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2024. This report reflects data as of 1 January 2025.

Section 1: Orders Received from EU Member States³

This section covers orders issued by EU Member States’ judicial or administrative authorities to act against illegal content in accordance with Article 9 of the DSA. These orders can be submitted through Content Reports (ContentReports.apple.com) — the App Store notice and action mechanism developed in compliance with Article 16 — as well as through existing communication channels.⁴ The section also covers orders issued by EU Member States’ judicial or administrative authorities to provide information, pursuant to Article 10 of the DSA.

Total number of EU Member State orders to act against illegal content: 7

Table 1.1: EU Member State orders to act against illegal content categorised by the EU Member State issuing the order

	Count of EU Member State orders
Netherlands	5
Denmark	1
Italy	1

Table 1.2: EU Member State orders to act against illegal content categorised by type of illegal content concerned

	Count of EU Member State orders
Provides or facilitates an illegal service	7

EU Member State orders to act against illegal content — median time to confirm receipt: 0 days⁵

EU Member State orders to act against illegal content — median time to give effect to the order: 1 day

Total number of EU Member State orders to provide information: 438

Table 1.3: EU Member State orders to provide information categorised by the EU Member State issuing the order

	Count of EU Member State orders
Germany	201
France	113
Spain	72
Italy	10
Czechia	9
Portugal	7
Belgium	5
Sweden	5
Finland	4
Poland	4
Croatia	2
Hungary	2
Ireland	2
Romania	2

EU Member State orders to provide information — median time to confirm receipt: 0 days

EU Member State orders to provide information — median time to give effect to the order: 3 days

Section 2: Notices Received Through Notice and Action Mechanism

The App Store notice and action mechanism in accordance with Article 16 is available at ContentReports.apple.com or through the Report a Problem tool and can be accessed by any individual or entity with an EU IP address.

Total number of notices: 2140

Table 2.1: Notices categorised by type of alleged illegal content concerned⁶

	Count of notices
Violates intellectual property rights⁷	1461
Violates consumer protection or privacy law	286
Provides or facilitates an illegal service	159
Child sexual abuse material	44
Incites terrorism or violence	39
Violates advertising law	36
Illegal hate speech	20
Other	95

Notices submitted by trusted flaggers: 0

Notices processed using automated means: 6⁸

Total number of notices on which the App Store took an action: 338⁹

· Action taken on the basis of the law: 0

· Action taken on the basis of terms and conditions: 338¹⁰

Median time to take action: 4 days¹¹

Section 3: App Store-Initiated Content Moderation

The App Store moderates three types of content for compliance with applicable law and terms and conditions: live apps that are published on the App Store, ads that are live on the App Store,¹² and user ratings and reviews and public developer responses (both before and after publication).

Content moderation relating to published apps

Before they’re published on the App Store — that is, before becoming subject to any content moderation decisions — all apps and app updates are subject to two levels of ex ante review by the App Review team (App Review): automated review and human review. After apps are published, the App Store continues to monitor them and can and does take action, including app takedowns, if it identifies apps that do not comply with applicable law, with the App Review Guidelines or with other applicable terms and conditions — namely the Apple Developer Agreement or the Apple Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA). The App Store may also take action if alerted to concerns about an app by third parties, including via Report a Problem or Content Reports.

Automated tools are used to assist App Review specialists in their ongoing monitoring of apps published on the App Store. This includes automated tools that detect malware or bait-and-switch apps that change their functionality after approval by App Review. It also includes automated tools that scan user reviews of published apps to identify concerns raised by consumers that may indicate that apps contain content incompatible with applicable law or terms and conditions. These tools are continually trained and enhanced to address new and emerging threats and to factor in learning from human-based decision-making. Any apps flagged as potentially problematic by these automated tools are escalated to human App Review specialists. These specialists then determine whether the apps violate App Store terms and conditions and, if so, what action to take — for example, app removal. No such actions are taken solely on the basis of automated tools.

App Review supports all official EU Member State languages (see Table 3.1 later in this report). Each specialist receives language- and region-specific training that covers cultural and sensitivity issues as they relate to enforcing the App Review Guidelines. Specialists also participate in regular discussions on new issues or trends that arise in their particular regions.

All App Review specialists charged with the continuing review of apps published on the App Store receive comprehensive training when they join the App Review team. This training is supplemented by ongoing training to ensure that specialists remain informed of new and emerging threats and issues. They have access to senior App Review specialists for guidance and can escalate issues internally, including to the App Review Board.

Content moderation relating to published ads

Before they’re published on the App Store, ads are reviewed to ensure that they comply with Apple Advertising Policies. The App Store will also moderate ads after they’re published if it becomes aware that they’re in breach of the Apple Advertising Policies.

Some automated tools are used to assist with moderating ads, but final decisions regarding content moderation are taken by humans.

Personnel charged with moderating published Apple Search Ads content receive comprehensive training when they join the team. This training is supplemented by ongoing training to ensure that personnel remain informed of new and emerging threats and issues.

Content moderation relating to user ratings and reviews as well as developer responses

Customers provide ratings and reviews on the App Store to give feedback on their experience with an app and to help others decide which apps they’d like to try. App developers can respond to user reviews regarding their apps. Some submitted ratings and reviews aren’t published on the App Store because automated tools are applied before they’re published to prevent reviews or responses that contain certain types of content — such as spam, fake reviews or profanity — from ever being published on the App Store. Nonetheless, we include these ratings and reviews in the relevant tables that follow.

All user ratings and reviews must comply with the Submissions Guidelines in the Apple Media Services (AMS) Terms and Conditions. Ratings and reviews that do not comply with these terms and conditions can be removed from the App Store. All developer responses must comply with the Developer Code of Conduct in the App Review Guidelines, as well as with the DPLA. Responses that do not comply can also be removed from the App Store.

We use a combination of automated and human review to moderate this content. Any reviews that may violate the law or App Store terms and conditions are evaluated by human moderators. Automated tools are used to flag reviews with potential concerns for human moderators to consider; but because decisions are taken by human reviewers rather than by automated means, considerations of the accuracy or error rate of such automated tools do not apply. Human reviewers sometimes detect or are alerted by developers and customers to published reviews that contain new patterns of illegal content or content that doesn’t comply with the AMS Terms and Conditions. In these circumstances, human reviewers may run automated queries to detect other published reviews that contain such content.

The personnel responsible for moderating user ratings and reviews and developer responses both before and after publication on the App Store receive comprehensive training at onboarding. This training is supplemented by ongoing training to ensure that personnel remain informed of new and emerging threats and issues.

Total number of human resources dedicated to content moderation: 578

Table 3.1: Human resources dedicated to content moderation categorised by supported language¹³

In accordance with Article 42(2)(a) of the DSA, the App Store must specify the human resources that it dedicates to content moderation, broken down by each official language of the EU Member States. The App Store does not maintain separate content moderation teams per EU Member State language, so it has detailed the number of content moderation human resources broken down by proficiency in EU Member State languages.

	Count of dedicated human resources
English	577
Spanish	50
Portuguese	42
French	30
German	29
Italian	26
Danish	15
Swedish	15
Polish	13
Croatian	11
Greek	11
Bulgarian	11
Dutch	11
Slovak	10
Czech	9
Romanian	8
Hungarian	7
Estonian	7
Slovenian	7
Finnish	6
Lithuanian	6
Maltese	6
Latvian	3
Irish	2

Total number of content moderation measures taken: 12,303,434

Number of content moderation measures taken detected solely using automated means: 4,677,075¹⁴

Table 3.2: Content moderation measures taken categorised by type of restriction applied

	Count of content moderation measures taken
Accounts terminated¹⁵	6,242,215
Ratings or reviews removed¹⁶	6,053,573
Apps removed¹⁷	7146
Apps restricted¹⁸	283
Ads removed	206
Accounts restricted¹⁹	11

Table 3.3: Content moderation measures taken categorised by type of illegal content or violation of terms and conditions

	Count of content moderation measures taken
AMS Terms Section K — Prohibited Use of Service	12,293,420
App Review Guideline 4.0 — Design²⁰	5755
DPLA Section 3.2(f)	3514
App Review Guideline 5.6.3 - Discovery Fraud	254
Advertising Policies 1 - Advertiser Responsibilities	151
Apple Advertising Services Terms of Service 13 - Termination	42
App Review Guideline 4.3 - Spam	37
App Review Guideline 4.1 - Copycats	34
App Review Guideline 5.6 - Developer Code of Conduct	34
Advertising Policies 4.4 - Real Money Gambling	30
App Review Guideline 5.6.4 - App Quality	29
App Review Guideline 1.1 - Objectionable Content	24
App Review Guideline 3.1.1 - In-App Purchases	11
App Review Guideline 2.3.1 - Accurate Metadata	10
App Review Guideline 2.1 - App Completeness	9
Advertising Policies 3.4 - Adult Content	8
App Review Guideline 5 - Legal	6
Advertising Policies 4.2 - Sensitive Content or Imagery	6
App Review Guideline 3.1.5 - Cryptocurrencies	6
App Review Guideline 5.1.2 - Data Use and Sharing	5
App Review Guideline 2.3.6 - Accurate Metadata	4
Advertising Policies 4.1- Alcohol	4
App Review Guideline 2.5.1 - Software Requirements	4
App Review Guideline 3.1.2 - Subscriptions	3
App Review Guideline 5.2.1 - Intellectual Property - Generally	3
App Review Guideline 2.3.7 - Accurate Metadata	3
App Review Guideline 5.3.4 - Gaming, Gambling, and Lotteries	3
App Review Guideline 5.2.2 - Intellectual Property - Third-Party Sites/Services	3
App Review Guideline 3.2.2 - Unacceptable Business Model	2
App Review Guideline 5.2.3 - Intellectual Property - Audio/Video Downloading	2
Advertising Policies 4.6 - Dating Services/Match Making	2
Advertising Policies 5.2 - Ad Placement Eligibility Overview	2
App Review Guideline 5.4 - VPN Apps	2
Advertising Policies 4.5 - Simulated Gambling	2
App Review Guideline 2.3.10 - Accurate Metadata	2
App Review Guideline 2.5.18 - Software Requirements	1
App Review Guideline 4.2 - Minimum Functionality	1
App Review Guideline 5.1.1 - Data Collection and Storage	1
App Review Guideline 1.4.3 - Physical Harm	1
Advertising Policies 3.5 - Controlled Substances	1
App Review Guideline 5.2.5 - Intellectual Property - Apple Products	1
App Review Guideline 1.4 - Physical Harm	1
App Review Guideline 2.2 - Beta Testing	1

Section 4: Complaints²¹

Total complaints received: 1269

Median time to take decisions: 13 days²²

Table 4.1: Complaints received categorised by decision taken

	Count of complaints received
Decision upheld	845
Decision reversed	228
Decision pending	196

Section 5: Out-of-Court Disputes

Total number of disputes submitted to out-of-court dispute settlement bodies referred to in Article 21: 0

Section 6: Suspensions for Misuse of the Service

DSA Article 23(1) provides for the suspension of users who “frequently provide manifestly illegal content.” DSA Article 23(2) provides for the suspension of users who “frequently submit notices or complaints that are manifestly unfounded.”

Under its existing content moderation practices, and in accordance with its terms and conditions, the App Store will terminate — rather than merely suspend — the accounts of any user or developer who frequently provides manifestly illegal content in the form of apps, user reviews of published apps or other forms of illegal content. The App Store may suspend or terminate users who frequently submit Content Reports notices or related complaints that are manifestly unfounded.

Total number of suspensions for provision of manifestly illegal content: 0

Total number of suspensions for submission of manifestly unfounded notices: 0

Total number of suspensions for submission of manifestly unfounded complaints: 0

Section 7: App Store Recipients of the Service

Table 7.1: Average monthly recipients of the App Store categorised by EU Member State

	Count of monthly recipients of the App Store²³
Germany	31 million
France	26 million
Italy	16 million
Spain	13 million
Netherlands	9 million
Poland	7 million
Sweden	6 million
Belgium	4 million
Denmark	4 million
Austria	3 million
Czechia	3 million
Portugal	3 million
Romania	3 million
Finland	2 million
Greece	2 million
Hungary	2 million
Ireland	2 million
Slovakia	1 million
Bulgaria	Under 1 million
Croatia	Under 1 million
Cyprus	Under 1 million
Estonia	Under 1 million
Latvia	Under 1 million
Lithuania	Under 1 million
Luxembourg	Under 1 million
Malta	Under 1 million
Slovenia	Under 1 million

Apple Distribution International Limited (ADI) is responsible for the provision of the App Store in the EU.↩︎
Data in the report comes from EU Member State storefronts only.↩︎
For the purposes of this report, “orders received” are considered to be valid requests from a Member State judicial or administrative authority in accordance with specific mandatory powers under the laws of the Member State in question, seeking production of information relating to the use of App Store services by one or more specific recipients of the service, or requiring action to be taken in respect of specific items of illegal content, regardless of whether it constitutes an order legally binding on ADI. ADI is an entity established in Ireland under the laws of the Republic of Ireland. As a result, court orders mandating data production by ADI issued by Irish courts are mandatory requests under current law as defined by Article 10 of the DSA. For the sake of greater transparency, also included are voluntary requests sent by official authorities in EU Member States other than Ireland, which were deemed valid legal requests according to our Legal Process Guidelines for Law Enforcement and Government outside the United States. This reporting is without prejudice to the legal position of Apple Distribution International Limited with regard to the binding nature of any such order, under applicable law.↩︎
For more information on accessing the Content Reports portal, please see Section 2.↩︎
All lengths of time are listed in calendar days.↩︎
This table displays the category of illegal content selected by the notifier. The selected category may not accurately reflect the content concerned.↩︎
Intellectual property rights notices are generally settled by the rights’ claimants themselves without requiring an action from the App Store.↩︎
Content Reports employs a filter that automatically rejects notices that are spam or that do not include a valid URL to content hosted on the App Store.↩︎
For more information on the content moderation actions that the App Store takes, see Table 3.2. Some actions on reported notices may not be included in these figures because they were pending at the time that data was collected. Additionally, some notices reviewed were not related to the reporting of illegal content and are therefore not actionable ↩︎
The App Store terms and conditions — including the App Review Guidelines, the Apple Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA) and Apple Media Services (AMS) Terms and Conditions — prohibit illegal content on the App Store, as well as the use of the App Store for illegal purposes. As such, this figure may include actions taken against content that might also be incompatible with applicable laws.↩︎
Median is calculated based on completed decisions at the end of the reporting period.↩︎
Apple Search Ads is a separate business from the App Store, and it’s included in this report because its business involves selling advertising media on the App Store.↩︎
Table 3.1 lists human resources who are proficient in multiple languages under each applicable language. ↩︎
This category includes ratings and reviews detected and removed solely through automated means. ↩︎
This category includes terminations of App Store developers, AMS customers and Apple Search Ads advertisers. ↩︎
This category includes ratings and reviews removed before and after publication. ↩︎
This category includes apps that were live on the App Store when the developer account was terminated. ↩︎
This category includes actions suppressing apps on App Store charts and in App Store search. It also includes apps blocked from being transferred to other developers. ↩︎
This category includes user accounts that are restricted from leaving ratings or reviews on the App Store. ↩︎
This removal is the result of ongoing cleanup for outdated apps. ↩︎
The App Store has multiple complaint-handling systems from which data is included in this section. These systems cover complaints related to Content Reports notices, review removals, App Review Board (ARB) cases, platform-to-business (P2B) cases and advertisement restrictions. For more information on redress options, please see apple.com/legal/dsa/en/redress-options.html. ↩︎
Median is calculated based on completed decisions at the end of the reporting period. ↩︎
These figures are approximate based on information that is readily available to the App Store in the normal course of its business. ↩︎