Moderation and reporting policy
This is a translation provided for your convenience. The French version is the reference text and prevails in the event of any discrepancy. This does not affect the mandatory consumer protections available to you under the law of your country of residence.
This page explains how we handle content published on Kotsu: how to report a problem to us, how we decide, what you risk if you do not comply with the rules, and how to challenge a decision that concerns you.
It applies Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services and supplements our Terms of Use, which set out the rules themselves.
1. Our position
Kotsu hosts what users publish: maker pages, photographs of costumes, listings, reviews, messages. We do not check this content before it goes online. We act when content is reported to us, or when we become aware of it ourselves.
Two principles guide everything that follows.
We do not moderate commercial disagreements. If you are in a dispute with a maker or a client about the price, the timescale or the quality of a commission, that is not moderation. Kotsu is not a party to that contract and does not settle it. We can give you the records kept on the service, and that is all. The means of redress in that case are set out in our Terms of Use.
We do not remove content because it is unwelcome. A negative review, a criticism, or a competitor who gets in the way are not grounds for removal. There must be a clear breach of the rules or unlawfulness.
2. Reporting content to us
2.1 Who can report
Anyone, whether or not they have a Kotsu account. The reporting form is accessible from every page of the site, and from every maker page, every listing and every review. You can also write to contact@kotsu.shop.
2.2 What a report must contain
So that we can handle your request, we need:
- The exact location of the content: the address of the page, and which item is targeted if there are several
- An explanation of what you consider unlawful or contrary to our rules, precise enough for us to understand without having to guess
- Your name and your email address, so that we can reply to you
- A statement that you believe in good faith that the information you give us is accurate and complete
These are the elements required by the European regulation for notice and action. A report that includes them, and that allows unlawfulness to be established without a detailed legal examination, gives us actual knowledge in law: we must then act.
One exception: you do not have to identify yourself to report content relating to child sexual abuse offences. Such reports can be made anonymously.
2.3 What happens next
- We acknowledge receipt of your report, without undue delay. In practice, within 48 hours.
- We examine it in a diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner.
- We inform you of our decision, with reasons, and of the means of redress available to you if you are not satisfied with it.
Our indicative decision times:
| Nature of the report | Target time |
|---|---|
| Content endangering a person, content involving a minor | Immediate, priority handling |
| Manifestly illegal content | 48 hours |
| Copyright infringement, impersonation, fake reviews | 7 days |
| Other breaches of the terms of use | 7 days |
These are the times we set ourselves. A complex case may take longer: we tell you so, rather than leaving you in the dark.
2.4 Abusive reports
Mass reporting a competitor, repeatedly sending manifestly unfounded reports, or using the form to cause harm: we may suspend the handling of reports from an account that abuses it, after warning that account.
3. How we decide
3.1 Human beings make the decisions
No content is removed and no account is suspended by an automated system alone.
We use automated means for three things only: blocking spam and fraudulent access attempts, refusing files whose format or size is not allowed, and detecting malicious files. Nothing else.
Every moderation decision is made by a person who has looked at the content.
3.2 What we look at
We look at the content itself, the context in which it was published, any explanations from its author, and the history of the account. A first minor breach and a deliberate repeat offence do not call for the same response.
3.3 What we can decide
| Measure | When |
|---|---|
| No measure | The report is not well founded |
| Request for correction | The breach is minor and can be put right, for example a missing required statement |
| Removal of the content | The content is unlawful or contrary to the rules |
| Visibility restriction | The content does not warrant removal but must not be given promoted placement |
| Temporary suspension of the account | Serious breach, or repeated breaches after a warning |
| Termination of the account | Breach of particular seriousness, or repeat offence after a suspension |
| Report to the authorities | We suspect a criminal offence threatening the life or safety of a person |
We apply the least severe measure that solves the problem.
3.4 The particular cases in our line of work
Copyright-protected characters. Many costumes reproduce characters belonging to third parties. We do not remove photographs of costumes on that ground alone. We act on a report from the rights holder or their representative.
The authenticity of a portfolio. Publishing another maker's work as your own is grounds for immediate suspension. These reports are handled as a priority, because they go to the heart of trust on Kotsu. We ask the maker concerned to prove that the work is theirs, for example with photographs of build milestones.
Attempts to leave the service in order to defraud. Asking for payment outside the terms stated, or pressuring a client into using a payment method with no protection, is grounds for suspension.
Fake reviews. A review that is bought, exchanged, written by someone close to the maker or posted without a real commission is removed, and both its author and the person it benefits are liable to suspension.
4. If a decision concerns you
4.1 We tell you, and we give our reasons
Whenever we take a measure in respect of your content or your account, we inform you and we tell you:
- The measure taken, its scope and its duration
- The facts and circumstances that led to it, and whether it follows a report or a check on our part
- The rule in our terms of use or the legal provision relied on, with an explanation of how it applies to your case
- The fact that the decision was made by a human being, which is always the case
- The means of challenging it
You receive this statement of reasons on a durable medium, at the latest when the measure takes effect.
A more protective rule applies to makers where their account is terminated: our Terms of Use provide for at least thirty days' notice in that case, together with the reasons for it, except where we are bound by a legal obligation, in the event of repeated and demonstrable breaches, or where an overriding security reason requires it.
4.2 Challenging a decision
You can challenge any decision by writing to contact@kotsu.shop within six months of the notification.
We re-examine the case, where possible with someone other than the person who took the initial decision, and we reply to you with reasons. If we were wrong, we reinstate the content or the account. You are informed of this.
We have put this internal means of redress in place, even though the rules do not require it of a business of our size, because a moderation decision can be a mistake and there has to be a way of saying so.
4.3 Taking it further
The internal means of redress does not deprive you of any right. You can bring the matter before the competent court at any time.
5. What suspending an account does not do
It does not cancel commissions in progress.
The contract between a maker and their client exists outside Kotsu. If we suspend an account, the commitments made still stand, and it is for the two parties to see them through or agree to end them.
We warn the client when a commission in progress is affected by the suspension of their maker, and we give them the history of their commission on request: terms accepted, payment schedule, milestones approved, payments recorded. That is the least we can do, and it is also what they will need if they have to assert their rights.
6. What we keep, and what we publish
We keep a register of every report we receive and every decision we take: the date, the nature of the report, the measure adopted, the reasons for it, and the outcome of any challenge. The register is held for five years.
Once a year, we publish the figures: number of reports received by category, measures taken, average handling times, number of challenges and number of decisions revised. This publication is not mandatory for a business of our size. We do it because a service that moderates must be able to say how it moderates.
7. Orders from the authorities
A judicial or administrative authority may send us an order to act against content, or a request for information about a user. We act on it under the conditions laid down by law and we inform the authority accordingly.
We inform the user concerned that the order exists and what we have done about it, except where the law or the authority prohibits us from doing so.
Where we become aware of information giving rise to a suspicion of a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person, we inform the competent authorities.
8. Contacting us
contact@kotsu.shop
Single point of contact for recipients of the service and for the authorities, within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. Languages accepted: French, English.
Reporting content: reporting form