What EU law gives you: GDPR erasure and DSA notices, explained simply
People in the European Union have some of the strongest online rights in the world. Two laws matter most when your images, your identity or your personal data are misused: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). This article explains, in plain words, what each gives you.
The GDPR: your right to have data erased
Article 17 of the GDPR gives you the right to ask any organization that handles your personal data to erase it. Personal data includes much more than your name: photos and videos of you, your voice, your address, your phone number and anything else that identifies you.
You can ask for erasure when, among other cases, the data is no longer needed, you withdraw your consent, you object to its use, or it was processed unlawfully. Publishing intimate images of you without consent, or listing your home address on a people-search site, are typical examples.
- The organization must answer without undue delay, and in any case within one month. In complex cases it can extend this by two more months, but it must tell you why within the first month.
- A request costs nothing and needs no special form. An email that says who you are, what data and why is enough.
- If the organization refuses or doesn't answer, you can complain to the data protection authority in your country.
Search engines too
Since a 2014 ruling of the EU Court of Justice, you can also ask search engines to stop showing results for your name that link to pages with outdated, irrelevant or excessive information about you. This is often called the right to be forgotten.
The DSA: notices that platforms must handle
The Digital Services Act applies to every online platform that serves users in the EU. It requires them to offer an easy way to report illegal content, and it sets rules for how they must handle your report.
- Platforms must provide a notice-and-action mechanism: a clear way to report illegal content online.
- They must process notices in a timely, diligent and objective way.
- They must tell you what they decided and why.
- If you disagree, you can use their internal complaint system and, after that, a certified out-of-court dispute body.
Very large platforms have extra duties, including assessing and reducing risks such as the spread of non-consensual intimate images. Each EU country has a Digital Services Coordinator that supervises the rules, for example Arcom in France, the Bundesnetzagentur in Germany and Coimisiún na Meán in Ireland.
Copyright: your content is yours
If you created the photo or video, for example as a creator, you own its copyright. Copyright notices are one of the fastest ways to get reposts removed, and they work in the EU and internationally.
New: EU rules on deepfakes and intimate images
A 2024 EU directive on combating violence against women requires every member state to make the non-consensual sharing of intimate images a crime, including sexual deepfakes. Separately, the EU AI Act requires that deepfakes be clearly labeled as artificially generated, with these transparency rules applying from August 2026.
Putting it together
In practice, the strongest results come from using several rights at once: a DSA notice or platform report, a GDPR erasure request, a copyright notice where it applies, and a request to search engines. Each covers a different part of the problem.
Praivon files these requests for you, on every channel, and stays on them until they're resolved. Client data is stored encrypted in the EU and handled under the GDPR from the start.
Which right fits which situation
- Your home address, phone number or email on a website: a GDPR erasure request to the site, plus a request to search engines.
- A photo or video of you posted without your consent: a report to the platform (under the DSA where the content is illegal, as intimate images are), and a GDPR erasure request, since images of you are personal data.
- Content you created, reposted by someone else: a copyright notice, often alongside the platform report.
- A fake account in your name: a report to the platform for impersonation, which every major platform forbids.
- An old page that shows up when people search your name: a request to search engines to stop showing it.
What makes a request strong
A request works best when it is precise. It names the exact page or post, says who you are and why the content concerns you, and states which right you are using. Vague requests are easier to refuse or ignore.
Evidence matters too: the link, a screenshot with the date and, where it helps, proof that the content is yours or that you never agreed to it. We attach this evidence to every request. Every request is sent on your behalf, under the authorization you give us.
When the law alone is not enough
Rights work best when someone uses them persistently. Sites can answer slowly, refuse without a clear reason or remove one copy while others stay online. Some are based outside the EU and ignore the first request.
That is where acting on every channel matters: the platform, the hosting provider, the domain registrar and search engines. When one point does not act, another often can, and we stay on every request until it's resolved.
The rights also have limits. The right to erasure is not absolute: it can be weighed against freedom of expression or a legal duty to keep certain records. That is why each request has to show clearly why the content should go.
- Can I get content about me removed under EU law?
- Yes. The GDPR gives you the right to ask for your personal data to be erased, and the Digital Services Act requires platforms to handle reports of illegal content. Which right fits depends on what the content is and where it appears.
- What is the difference between the GDPR and the Digital Services Act?
- The GDPR protects your personal data and lets you ask for it to be erased. The DSA sets the rules platforms must follow when someone reports illegal content. One gives you a right over your data, the other gives your report a process the platform must follow.
- Do I need a lawyer to use these rights?
- No. Anyone can send an erasure request or report content to a platform. What makes the difference is a precise request, solid evidence and following up until it's resolved, which is what Praivon does for you.
- What if a site refuses my request?
- Ask for the reason in writing and keep every reply. A refusal at one point is rarely the end: the same content can often be reported to the hosting provider and taken out of search results. We take it from there and stay on it until it's resolved.