About Impress Dispute Resolutions
We decide disputes about illegal content on social media and content sharing platforms, whether the content was removed or left up. This page sets out who certified us, how we are governed, who decides cases, and what to do if you are unhappy with our service.
Certification
Our certification
Impress Dispute Resolutions (IDR) is certified as an out-of-court dispute settlement body under Article 21 of the EU Digital Services Act.
Certifying authority
Coimisiún na Meán
Certified
14 May 2026 to 14 May 2031
Scope
Illegal content
Our certifying authority is Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s media and online safety regulator and the Digital Services Coordinator for Ireland. Certification runs for five years. We are the second body in Ireland to be certified with these powers.
Read the announcement of our certification →
What certification required us to prove
Article 21 sets six conditions that a body must meet before it can be certified. We demonstrated the following to Coimisiún na Meán for our certification.
01
Independence
We shared evidence about our funding structure, our governance arrangements, and the process by which case decision-makers are appointed and cases allocated.
02
Relevant expertise
Article 21 lets a body be certified for illegal content, for how platforms apply their own terms and conditions, or for both. We are certified for illegal content. Every case decision-maker is a qualified lawyer with at least seven years of post qualification experience and arbitration accreditation from Ciarb.
03
No payment by outcome
Case decision-makers are paid against a published fee schedule. There is no success element, no bonus and no variation by outcome, and the schedule is the same whichever party the decision favours.
04
An accessible service
You can start a dispute and send us everything we need online, without needing a lawyer.
05
Defined timescales
We are required to resolve disputes promptly, efficiently and affordably, and to operate in at least one official EU language. We currently work in English.
06
Public rules
Our Rules of Procedure set out exactly how we handle cases. Anyone can read them before deciding whether to bring a dispute.
Download our Rules of Procedure →
What certification does not mean
Certification confirms that we meet the Article 21 conditions. It does not make us a court, and it does not make our decisions enforceable.
Platforms are legally required to engage with our process. They are not required to accept the outcome. Where a platform declines to follow a decision, we record that, and it appears in our public reporting.
Certification also does not remove any of your other options. Your right to go to court is protected by Article 21 and is unaffected by bringing a dispute to us, before, during or after.
Governance
Meet our founders
Impress Dispute Resolutions is supported by Impress: The Independent Monitor for the Press CIC.
Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana
Co-Founder
Lexie has been CEO of Impress since April 2023, having previously held the role of Head of Regulation from 2019. She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the regulatory industry and is a New Zealand-qualified barrister and solicitor who has worked across all forms of media regulation. She has previously worked at the Advertising Standards Authority in the investigations team, and at the New Zealand Office of Film and Literature Classification, an independent state media regulator, in a research and semi-judicial capacity.
Gia Thom
Co-Founder
Gia has been Director of Development at Impress since July 2023. She believes growing up in South Africa shaped her awareness of social inequity and commitment to seeking meaningful change. Beginning her career in software engineering at a startup, she was instrumental in its acquisition by Deutsche Telekom, which led to executive positions at T-Systems and Microsoft in Europe. She considers it a privilege to shepherd Impress into a sustainable operation that aims to empower all with a trusted and resilient information ecosystem.
The panel
Who decides cases
Every case is decided by a qualified lawyer. To join our panel, a case decision-maker must have:
Qualified
A recognised legal qualification from Ireland, at practising level.
Experienced
At least seven years of post qualification experience.
Accredited
Arbitration training and accreditation from Ciarb.
Ciarb assesses every candidate before appointment. That covers their knowledge, skill and experience in their field, their commitment to continuing professional development, and their adherence to Ciarb’s ethical and professional standards. Ciarb also checks their interests and involvement in other organisations.
All case decision-makers complete our own training programme before taking cases. Between them, the panel covers every category of illegal content we are certified for.
Panel members are appointed for five year terms, which may be renewed. Either side can end an appointment on the terms set out in the contract.
Panel members must remain independent of the parties to a case and of any outside influence on their decision making. They must give both sides an equal opportunity to present their case and their evidence.
Heritage
Where we come from
IDR is new. The organisation behind it is not.
Impress is the UK’s only press regulator recognised by the Press Recognition Panel, established under Royal Charter. That recognition was granted in 2016 and has been confirmed three times since, in 2019, 2022 and 2025, each time following independent assessment.
Since 2016 Impress has run a low cost dispute resolution scheme for media organisations and members of the public, alongside a separate complaints and adjudication service for breaches of the Impress Standards Code. In 2024 the dispute resolution scheme was expanded and opened to any individual or organisation.
That work involves applying legal standards, binding content standards and platform terms of service to disputes about content and conduct, including content published on Facebook, X and YouTube.
It is that experience IDR is built on. Impress reports publicly on its work every year.
Appointments
Choosing your decision-maker
Appointments are handled by the Dispute Appointment Service (DAS) at Ciarb. We have no say in who is selected for your case.
The service selects the panel member best suited to your case, or to a group of cases where several are assigned together. Before taking the appointment, that person must confirm in writing that they are willing to act, and that they are impartial, independent and free of any conflict of interest.
If you have any concern about a possible conflict of interest, you can raise it with us directly. Ciarb examines every concern raised. Where a conflict exists, or where there is a reasonable perception of one, the case decision-maker is withdrawn from the case.
Where we assign several cases together, we set out the parties and interests involved clearly, so that the case decision-maker can confirm their position on all of them.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with us
This is for complaints about how we handled your case, not about the decision itself. There is no right of appeal against a case decision maker’s decision.
If you feel our service fell short, you can complain once your case has concluded and ask for your complaint to be reviewed independently.
The Service Complaint Reviewer is an independent consultant. They are not an employee or board member of Impress Dispute Resolutions. They can look at matters including conflicts of interest, impartiality and objectivity.
At the end of the review, you and IDR both receive the findings in writing. If the Reviewer decides your complaint is justified, they can recommend that we apologise, take whatever steps they consider fair and reasonable, and pay reasonable compensation for damage, distress or inconvenience.
A dedicated form is in development. Until it is live, please email your complaint to help@impressdisputeresolutions.org, quoting your case reference number.
Have a case you want us to look at?
The eligibility check takes about two minutes and costs nothing.