Letter from the table: What French‑speaking owners need from a suspension notice

To the Platform Council,

This letter is translated from French. I am trying to carry across not only my own experience, but the words I hear from owners in my language community: when an account is restricted, we need to know what happened, what we can do, and when the money will be released. “Please contact support” is not an answer to those questions.

On 4 March 2026, a large marketplace restricted my business account. The notice said there had been a policy concern and that I should check the help centre. It did not identify a transaction, listing, document or rule. I could not tell whether the problem was a mistake, a missing document, or something I was expected to correct. I submitted an appeal that afternoon and attached the records I thought might be relevant.

On 6 March, I received an automated message confirming that my appeal had been received. It gave no review date and no name or role for anyone who might examine it. I followed the stated process again on 11 March, then contacted support through the account portal on 16 March. I was asked to wait. Each time I explained that I needed a specific reason to respond properly. Each time, I was directed back to the same general policy pages.

By 18 March, €3,860 in proceeds was unavailable to me. I could not see a date by which the hold would be reviewed or lifted. I had already set aside part of that money for business expenses due that month. I borrowed from my own savings to cover them. That is not a dramatic story, and I do not want to pretend it is. It is a small business having to make decisions in the dark because a system has stopped explaining itself.

I am not asking a platform to disclose information that would compromise a genuine investigation or to leave harmful activity untouched. I am asking it to tell a business user, in usable terms, what action has been taken and what evidence or step could make a difference. “A policy concern” does not let me correct anything. “This payment is being held while we verify the document submitted on 3 March; please provide a clearer copy by 25 March” would.

What we can use in France

In France, the EU Platform-to-Business Regulation applies directly. Article 4 requires an online intermediation service restricting or suspending services to provide the business user with a statement of reasons on a durable medium. That matters because the problem is not simply that an account action feels unfair. Without specific reasons, the business user cannot understand or challenge it. The Regulation also provides for internal complaint handling, but a route to submit a complaint is only useful if the process can consider the case and give a meaningful response.

I looked for a route beyond the platform. The Médiateur des entreprises is a French public service that offers business mediation. It is a useful institution to know about, but seeking mediation does not tell an owner whether a platform will release funds next week or next month. Nor does it replace the platform’s responsibility to explain its decision and provide an effective review. A small business should not have to become an expert in complaint routes just to learn what it is accused of doing.

The conversations I have had with French-speaking owners are not all about suspensions. Some describe a listing disappearing without a clear explanation; others describe a payout being held while support requests the same information again. The details differ. The common sentence is: “I don’t know what they want from me.” I am translating that sentence because it is easy to overlook how much work it creates. Owners translate templates, gather records, repeat their case to different support agents and try to plan cash flow without a date.

What the Standard would change

I support the Platform Fairness Standard adopted by the Assembly. Its practical protections are straightforward:

• written notice before an account suspension, listing removal, payout hold or fee change;
• a specific reason, rather than a generic reference to policy;
• review by a person, with a way to provide relevant information; and
• a time limit on payout holds, with the same protections in every country where the platform operates.

For my March case, that would have changed the experience even if the final decision had still been to restrict the account. I could have understood what was being reviewed, submitted the relevant records once, and known when a person would assess them. For the €3,860, a stated review deadline would not guarantee immediate payment, but it would give me something real to plan around and a point at which to ask why the hold continued.

I know the Standard is not a promise that every appeal succeeds. It is a promise that a business user should not be left guessing at the reason, the next step or the passage of time. That is a modest floor, not a special advantage.

Please keep the voices of French-speaking owners in the consultation and in the work that follows the ballot. We do not need our experiences made louder than they are. We need them translated accurately, and protections that work just as well when the notice arrives in French as when it arrives in English.

Notes and sources

Sources

1. Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services