Hi everyone, I’ve recently been working with a client on preparing their annual reporting for EU DSA compliance, and it struck me that this is likely a recurring task for many moderators and admins running Discourse communities within the EU. Given that this reporting process is repetitive and detail-oriented, I’m curious how others here are approaching it. What workflows have you developed to prepare accurate annual reports? Are you relying on specific plugins, custom scripts, data explorer queries, or external tools? Have you implemented any automations to streamline data collection or reporting? And does Discourse offer any built-in features that meaningfully simplify or automate parts of the DSA reporting process? I’ve seen that Discourse itself publishes a nicely structured DSA transparency report (for example: Digital Services Act 2025 (DSA) Transparency Report | Discourse - Civilized Discussion), which is quite helpful as a reference. I’d love to hear how different communities are tackling this. Looking forward to learning from the collective experience here. Thanks in advance!

[image] sps: I’ve seen that Discourse itself publishes a nicely structured DSA transparency report (for example: Digital Services Act 2025 (DSA) Transparency Report | Discourse - Civilized Discussion), which is quite helpful as a reference. I created that report just last week for the first time. It was very quick and easy to do with data explorer. Here are the queries that I use (props to @SaraDev who wrote them): DSA Reporting -- [params] -- date :start_date = 2020-01-01 -- date :end_date = 2026-01-01 WITH flag_data AS ( SELECT r.id AS flag_id, p.id AS post_id, p.topic_id, p.raw AS flagged_item_text, p.user_id AS post_author_id, fu.username AS flagged_by_username, r.created_at AS flagged_date, r.type AS flag_type, r.reviewable_by_moderator AS flag_source, r.payload AS flag_reason, r.status AS review_status, rs.reviewed_by_id, rs.reviewed_at, rs.score AS review_score, ru.username AS reviewed_by_username, p.deleted_at AS post_deleted_at, u.silenced_till AS user_silenced_till, u.suspended_till AS user_suspended_till, p.hidden_at AS post_hidden_at, pa.post_action_type_id FROM reviewables r LEFT JOIN posts p ON r.target_id = p.id AND r.target_type = 'Post' LEFT JOIN users fu ON r.created_by_id = fu.id LEFT JOIN reviewable_scores rs ON rs.reviewable_id = r.id LEFT JOIN users ru ON rs.reviewed_by_id = ru.id LEFT JOIN users u ON p.user_id = u.id LEFT JOIN post_actions pa ON pa.post_id = p.id WHERE r.created_at BETWEEN :start_date AND :end_date AND r.status = 1 -- Only include flags that were agreed with and action was taken ), flag_types AS ( SELECT 3 AS post_action_type_id, 'Off-topic' AS flag_type_name UNION ALL SELECT 4 AS post_action_type_id, 'Inappropriate' AS flag_type_name UNION ALL SELECT 6 AS post_action_type_id, 'Notify_user' AS flag_type_name UNION ALL SELECT 7 AS post_action_type_id, 'Notify_moderators' AS flag_type_name UNION ALL SELECT 8 AS post_action_type_id, 'Spam' AS flag_type_name UNION ALL SELECT 10 AS post_action_type_id, 'Illegal' AS flag_type_name ), median_time_to_act AS ( SELECT CASE WHEN ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL THEN ft.flag_type_name WHEN fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) THEN 'something_else' ELSE fd.flag_type END AS flag_type, ROUND(PERCENTILE_CONT(0.5) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM (fd.reviewed_at - fd.flagged_date))) / 60) AS median_time_minutes FROM flag_data fd LEFT JOIN flag_types ft ON fd.post_action_type_id = ft.post_action_type_id WHERE fd.reviewed_at IS NOT NULL AND ( ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL -- Include mapped flag types OR fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableUser', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) -- Include specific flag types for NULL results ) GROUP BY CASE WHEN ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL THEN ft.flag_type_name WHEN fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) THEN 'something_else' ELSE fd.flag_type END ) SELECT CASE WHEN ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL THEN ft.flag_type_name WHEN fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) THEN 'something_else' ELSE fd.flag_type END AS Type, COUNT(CASE WHEN fd.flagged_by_username NOT IN ('spam_scanner_bot', 'system') THEN 1 END) AS Reported, COUNT(CASE WHEN fd.flagged_by_username IN ('spam_scanner_bot', 'system') THEN 1 END) AS Automated, COUNT(*) AS Total, COALESCE(mta.median_time_minutes, 0) AS "Median time to act (minutes)", COUNT(CASE WHEN fd.user_silenced_till IS NOT NULL THEN 1 END) AS "User silenced", COUNT(CASE WHEN fd.user_suspended_till IS NOT NULL THEN 1 END) AS "User deleted", COUNT(CASE WHEN fd.post_deleted_at IS NOT NULL THEN 1 END) AS "Post deleted", COUNT(CASE WHEN fd.post_hidden_at IS NOT NULL THEN 1 END) AS "Post hidden" FROM flag_data fd LEFT JOIN flag_types ft ON fd.post_action_type_id = ft.post_action_type_id LEFT JOIN median_time_to_act mta ON CASE WHEN ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL THEN ft.flag_type_name WHEN fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) THEN 'something_else' ELSE fd.flag_type END = mta.flag_type WHERE ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL -- Include mapped flag types OR fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableUser', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) -- Include specific flag types for NULL results GROUP BY CASE WHEN ft.flag_type_name IS NOT NULL THEN ft.flag_type_name WHEN fd.flag_type IN ( 'ReviewableAkismetPost', 'ReviewableFlaggedPost', 'ReviewableChatMessage', 'ReviewablePost', 'ReviewableQueuedPost' ) THEN 'something_else' ELSE fd.flag_type END, mta.median_time_minutes ORDER BY Total DESC Moderation Actions Taken -- [params] -- date :start_date = 2024-01-01 -- date :end_date = 2025-01-01 -- null int :action_type SELECT uh.acting_user_id, uh.action AS action_type, CASE uh.action WHEN 1 THEN 'delete_user' WHEN 10 THEN 'suspend_user' WHEN 11 THEN 'unsuspend_user' WHEN 17 THEN 'delete_post' WHEN 18 THEN 'delete_topic' WHEN 25 THEN 'reviewed_post' WHEN 30 THEN 'silence_user' WHEN 31 THEN 'unsilence_user' WHEN 39 THEN 'deactivate_user' WHEN 41 THEN 'lock_trust_level' WHEN 42 THEN 'unlock_trust_level' WHEN 47 THEN 'notified_about_get_a_room' WHEN 49 THEN 'post_locked' WHEN 50 THEN 'post_unlocked' WHEN 56 THEN 'post_approved' WHEN 60 THEN 'removed_silence_user' WHEN 61 THEN 'removed_suspend_user' WHEN 62 THEN 'removed_unsilence_user' WHEN 63 THEN 'removed_unsuspend_user' WHEN 64 THEN 'post_rejected' WHEN 69 THEN 'approve_user' WHEN 95 THEN 'post_staff_note_create' WHEN 96 THEN 'post_staff_note_destroy' ELSE 'unknown_action' END AS action_name, uh.target_user_id AS user_id, uh.subject AS "Subject", -- Subject of the action uh.created_at AS "When", -- Timestamp of the action uh.details AS "Details", -- Additional details about the action uh.context AS "Context", -- Context of the action uh.previous_value, uh.new_value, u.suspended_till, u.silenced_till, uh.topic_id AS topic_id, uh.post_id AS post_id, uh.category_id AS category_id, uh.custom_type FROM user_histories uh LEFT JOIN users u ON uh.target_user_id = u.id WHERE uh.created_at BETWEEN :start_date AND :end_date AND uh.action IN ( 1, -- delete_user 10, -- suspend_user 11, -- unsuspend_user 17, -- delete_post 18, -- delete_topic 25, -- reviewed_post 30, -- silence_user 31, -- unsilence_user 39, -- deactivate_user 41, -- lock_trust_level 42, -- unlock_trust_level 47, -- notified_about_get_a_room 49, -- post_locked 50, -- post_unlocked 56, -- post_approved 60, -- removed_silence_user 61, -- removed_suspend_user 62, -- removed_unsilence_user 63, -- removed_unsuspend_user 64, -- post_rejected 69, -- approve_user 95, -- post_staff_note_create 96 -- post_staff_note_destroy ) AND (:action_type IS NULL OR uh.action = :action_type) ORDER BY uh.created_at DESC And for warnings issued: https://meta.discourse.org/admin/reports/moderator_warning_private_messages?end_date=2024-12-31&mode=table&start_date=2024-01-01

Hey @HAWK This is super helpful. Thanks for sharing. I have a couple follow-up Q's here. On the DSA reporting query, the start date has the year 2020, while the published DSA report lists a period from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025. Does this have to do with the way this query or Discourse works? [image] HAWK: -- [params] -- date :start_date = 2020-01-01 -- date :end_date = 2026-01-01 Does the moderation actions query also take into account the unlisted topics? We have Discourse AI - AI triage enabled on our instance, and one of its actions is to auto-unlist out-of-scope topics.

[image] sps: On the DSA reporting query, the start date has the year 2020, while the published DSA report lists a period from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025. Does this have to do with the way this query or Discourse works? When you run it in DE there will be fields to set the parameters. Those are just defaults. [image] sps: Does the moderation actions query also take into account the unlisted topics? We have Discourse AI - AI triage enabled on our instance, and one of its actions is to auto-unlist out-of-scope topics. Yup, it also logs actions taken by the @system user.

What's your workflow for the annual EU DSA compliance?

Community Building Data & reporting

pfaffman (Jay Pfaffman) February 18, 2026, 9:01pm 7

Cool. You should have those added to the stock queries with some obvious DSA in the title.

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What's your workflow for the annual EU DSA compliance?

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