DSA Transparency Report

Apple Books (ebooks)

February 2025

In accordance with Articles 15 and 24 of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), this transparency report provides information on orders and notices of illegal content received by Apple Books1 and content moderation that Apple Books has undertaken on its own initiative.2 This report covers the reporting period between 17 February 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 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: 0

Total number of EU Member State orders to provide information:  0

Section 2: Notices Received Through Notice and Action Mechanism

The notice and action mechanism in accordance with Article 16 is available at ContentReports.apple.com  and can be accessed by any individual or entity with an EU IP address.

Total number of notices: 52

Table 2.1: Notices categorised by type of alleged illegal content concerned5

 

Count of notices

Violates intellectual property rights

52

Child sexual abuse material 

0

Incites terrorism or violence

0

Illegal hate speech

0

Provides or facilitates an illegal service 

0

Violates consumer protection or privacy law

0

Violates advertising law

0

Other

0

 

Notices submitted by trusted flaggers: 0

Notices processed using automated means: 0

Total number of notices on which the Apple Books took an action: 456

·      Action taken on the basis of the law: 0

·      Action taken on the basis of terms and conditions: 457

Median time to take action: 1 day8

Section 3: Apple Books-Initiated Content Moderation

Apple Books moderates content for compliance with applicable law and terms and conditions. 

Content moderation relating to Books (ebooks)

Before being published on the Books platform – that is, before becoming subject to content moderation decisions – ebooks, including their cover art, are subject to automated review and, if necessary, human review. After they are published, ebooks will be subject to human review if Apple is alerted to concerns flagged by third parties regarding ebooks content. Ebooks content will be removed if it is identified that it does not comply with applicable law and the Apple Books Formatting and Content Guidelines.  

Automated tools are used to identify explicit, objectionable and illegal material and ensure it is marked appropriately. Content is only removed if necessary, following human review. No such action is taken solely on the basis of automated tools.

Content moderation relating to user ratings and reviews

Users provide ratings and reviews on the Books platform to give feedback and help others decide which ebooks they would like to read.  Some submitted ratings and reviews aren’t published on the Books platform because automated tools are applied before they’re published, to prevent reviews that contain certain types of content — such as spam, fake reviews or profanity. 

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 Books platform.  

We use a combination of automated and human review to moderate ratings and reviews. Any reviews that may violate applicable law or AMS 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 authors 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.

All human reviewers involved in moderating ebooks and user ratings and reviews receive comprehensive training at onboarding. This is supplemented by ongoing training to ensure they remain informed of new and emerging threats and issues. 

Total number of content moderation measures taken: 40,201

Number of content moderation measures taken detected solely using automated means: 15,4809

Table 3.1: Content moderation measures taken categorised by type of restriction applied

 

Count of content moderation measures taken

Ratings or reviews removed

29,485

Books removed

10,414

Accounts terminated

302

Books restricted

0

Accounts restricted

0

 

Table 3.2: 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

29,787

Apple Books Content Guidelines – 1.0 - General Guidelines

6952

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.11 - Custom Samples

1046

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.12 - Objectionable Content

502

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.12 - Apple Books-Generated Table of Contents

373

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 7.3 - Quality

262

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 7.1 - Accuracy

165

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 7.5 - Setup Shots

144

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 2.2 - Author Formatting

141

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 4.1 - Accuracy

115

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.5 - Quality

93

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 4.2 - Incomplete

93

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 2.6 - Compound

88

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 2.1 - Primary Author Designation

80

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 4.3 - HTML Tags

60

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 7.7 - Other

54

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.9 - Pricing

41

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 2.5 - Extra Information

39

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 3.1 - Accuracy

22

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 7.2 - Size

20

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.9 - Nonfunctioning Books

16

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.1 - Accuracy

13

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.2 - Samples or Incomplete Titles

13

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 4.7 - Formatting

13

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8 - Book File

12

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.6 - Spelling and Grammar

10

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 3.2 - Subtitle Field

10

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.6 - Spelling and Grammar

9

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.1 - Use of Apple Inc. Copyrighted Terms

8

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.11 - Misleading

5

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.3 - Test Book File

4

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 8.7 - Links

3

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 4.1 - Description Accuracy

2

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 4.6 - Additional Information

2

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 7.4 - Unnecessary Borders

1

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.4 - Unsupported Language

1

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.7 - Upselling

1

Apple Books Content Guidelines - 1.6 - Legal Requirements

1

 

Section 4: Complaints10

Total complaints received: 0

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, Apple Books will terminate — rather than merely suspend — the accounts of any user who frequently provides manifestly illegal content in the form of ebooks, user reviews or ratings. Apple Books 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

  1. Apple Distribution International Limited (ADI) is responsible for the provision of Apple Books (ebooks) in the EU.↩︎

  2. Data in the report comes from EU Member State storefronts only.↩︎

  3. 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 Apple Books 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.↩︎

  4. For more information on accessing the Content Reports portal, please see Section 2.↩︎

  5. This table displays the category of illegal content selected by the notifier. The selected category may not accurately reflect the content concerned.↩︎

  6. For more information on the content moderation actions that the Apple Books takes, see Table 3.1. 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.↩︎

  7. The Apple Media Services (AMS) Terms and Conditions prohibits the use of Apple Books for illegal content and purposes. As such, this figure may include actions taken against content that might also be incompatible with applicable laws.↩︎

  8. Median is calculated based on completed decisions at the end of the reporting period.↩︎

  9. This category includes ratings and reviews detected and removed solely through automated means.↩︎

  10. Apple Books has multiple complaint-handling systems from which data is included in this section. These systems cover complaints related to Content Reports notices, review removals, and violations of our terms and conditions. For more information on redress options, please see apple.com/legal/dsa/en/redress-options.html.↩︎