Moderation charter

Last updated: [TO BE COMPLETED: publication date].

This charter describes the rules for publication, moderation, and review of reviews and content published on the website promastro.be (the “Site“).

It is published in accordance with article VI.45/1 of the Belgian Code de droit économique (Belgian Economic Law Code — transposing Directive (EU) 2019/2161, known as “Omnibus”) concerning transparency of online reviews, and European Regulation 2022/2065 (DSA — Digital Services Act).

1. Scope

This charter applies to all user-generated content (Visitors and Professionals) published on the Site, namely:

• Reviews posted by Visitors on professional listings;
• Public responses by Professionals to reviews;
• Descriptions, photos, before/after projects published by Professionals;
• Messages exchanged via the Site’s internal messaging system (reactive moderation only, upon reporting).

2. Who can post a review?

To preserve the authenticity of reviews, posting is subject to the following conditions:

• Registration required — only a user with a Promastro account (free) can publish a review. Registration requires a valid, verifiable email address;
• One review per listing per user — a single account can only publish one review per professional listing (modification possible, no duplication);
• No self-reviews — a Pro cannot publish reviews on their own listing or on those of linked accounts;
• No service in exchange for review — obtaining an advantage (discount, gift, payment) in exchange for a review is prohibited (Terms of Use art. 6) and constitutes grounds for deletion;
• Promastro does not require review authors to provide proof of an actual transaction: consumer freedom of expression takes precedence, but signals of the absence of a client relationship may be considered during reporting procedures (see § 5).

3. Content rules

A review or content published on the Site must:

• Reflect a personal and honest experience;
• Be written in French, Dutch, or English;
• Be respectful of individuals and their dignity;
• Remain related to the service or to the Pro’s activity;
• Respect others’ rights (intellectual property, privacy, image, presumption of innocence).

The following are prohibited and may result in deletion of the review or content:

• Insults, defamatory, racist, sexist, homophobic, or discriminatory statements;
• Threats, incitement to hatred or violence;
• Personal data of a third party without their consent (full names, phone numbers, precise addresses);
• Unfounded allegations of fraud or criminal offense (presumption of innocence);
• Spam, advertising, commercial links, promotion of a competitor;
• Content unrelated to the service (“off-topic”);
• Manifestly false, fabricated, copy-pasted, or mass-generated reviews;
• Excessively short text (less than 20 characters) or exclusively in uppercase;
• Content illegal under Belgian or European law.

4. How are reviews moderated?

4.1 Automated a priori moderation (AI)

Each review and each Pro description is subject, upon submission, to automated analysis by the artificial intelligence model Claude (Anthropic). This analysis aims to detect:

• Spam (commercial text, chain links, identical content on multiple listings);
• Insults and hateful or discriminatory statements;
• Content manifestly off-topic;
• Potential identifying personal data of a third party.

The analysis results in one of three decisions:

• Immediate publication (most common case);
• Pending human moderation (doubtful cases);
• Automatic rejection only if the confidence level is very high (≥ 90%) on the spam category or confirmed insult.

4.2 Human moderation

A review or content placed on hold is reviewed by a human moderator within a reasonable time (typically 24 to 72 business hours). The moderator may:

• Approve the review as is;
• Approve with masking of a third party’s personal data;
• Reject the review with a reasoned decision, notified to the author by email.

4.3 Reactive moderation (reporting)

Any user can report a review or listing they believe violates this charter via the “Report” button present on each listing and under each review. The report is reviewed within 7 business days. The author of the reported content is informed of the report and invited to present their observations before any removal decision.

5. Authenticity verification

Promastro implements the following measures to verify that published reviews come from consumers who have actually used or purchased the product/service (article VI.45/1 § 1):

• Mandatory registration with verifiable email address and password;
• Automated detection of abnormal behavior: chained IP addresses, abnormal submission rate, copy-pasted content from one listing to another;
• Cross-referencing the review author with the history of contacts sent to the listing (prior exchange via messaging is a positive signal of authenticity);
• Possibility for the Pro to report a review they believe is not related to an actual client relationship — without being able to arbitrarily delete it.

Transparency limit: Promastro does not systematically and in a documented manner verify each individual review (for example, by requiring an invoice proof). This paragraph constitutes, in accordance with article VI.45/1, fair consumer information about the extent of verifications performed.

6. Review weighting and sorting

Reviews are displayed on the Pro’s listing according to the sorting chosen by the user (default: most recent to oldest). The aggregated average rating is calculated as the simple arithmetic mean of approved individual ratings.

Promastro does not weight, filter, or hide negative reviews when calculating the average rating or display. No Pro can purchase the deletion of negative reviews or the highlighting of positive reviews.

7. Pro’s right of reply

The Pro concerned by a review may publish a public response under each review concerning them. This response is itself subject to the rules of this charter (automated moderation + reportable). The Pro’s response is visible to all users.

The Pro cannot delete a review concerning them. However, they can report it if they believe it violates this charter; the report is processed independently by Promastro.

8. Review retention

Approved reviews are retained for the entire duration of the Pro’s listing existence. Upon deletion of the author’s account, their name is replaced by “Deleted user” but the review text remains published to preserve useful information for other users (see account deletion page). The author may, at any time, request complete deletion of a specific review concerning them.

9. Appeal in case of review rejection or deletion

In accordance with Article 22 of the RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation) and Article 20 of the DSA Regulation:

• Any decision to reject or delete a review is notified by email to its author, with mention of the reason;
• The author may contest the decision by responding to the email or writing to contact@promastro.be. A human moderator then re-examines the decision within a maximum period of 14 days;
• If the deletion is maintained, the user may file a complaint with the Consumer Mediation Service (mediationconsommateur.be) or pursue legal recourse.

10. Reporting illegal content (DSA)

In accordance with Article 16 of the DSA Regulation, any user may notify Promastro of presumed illegal content:

• Via the “Report” button present on each listing and each review;
• By email to contact@promastro.be specifying: content URL, detailed reason, notifier’s identity if not anonymous.

Promastro acknowledges receipt of the report and processes the notification as promptly as possible. The decision and its reasons are communicated to the notifier and to the content author.

11. Emergency procedure

In case of content presenting an imminent danger (incitement to violence, manifestly illegal content causing serious harm to a third party’s rights, disclosure of sensitive information), an immediate provisional removal may be performed pending thorough review. The concerned parties are informed within 24 hours.

12. Penalties for violations

In case of repeated or characterized violation of this charter:

• Deletion of the problematic content;
• Warning sent to the author;
• Temporary account suspension;
• Permanent account deletion in case of recurrence or serious violation (fraud, organized fake reviews, illegal statements).

13. Transparency and reporting

Promastro will publish, as soon as the volume of reports justifies it, an annual transparency report in accordance with Article 15 of the DSA Regulation, including notably the number of reports received, number of removals, main reasons, and average processing time.

14. Contact

For any questions regarding moderation or to report a review: contact@promastro.be.

See also: Terms of Use · quality charter · privacy policy