Section 230, Content Moderation & DMCA Policy Review - $1,500 Flat Fee
Platforms and marketplaces can obtain a focused Section 230, content-moderation or DMCA repeat-infringer policy draft or review for a $1,500 flat fee. The service covers one principal policy or agreement, identifies the platform-liability and notice-and-takedown issues raised by the facts you supply, and provides written revisions. It does not include litigation, representation before a platform, or the broader multi-document marketplace stack for the business.
| Scope | Fixed fee |
|---|
| Complex Draft / Review: one principal policy or agreement (community guidelines and moderation policy; or the DMCA notice, counter-notice and repeat-infringer policy; or a platform-liability review of your user terms), with a written issue memo and up to three revision rounds | $1,500 |
| Coordinated Two-Document Bundle: the moderation policy and the DMCA policy ordered together | $2,500 |
| Marketplace Platform Legal Stack: platform terms for both sides, provider agreement, privacy policy and DPA as applicable, payments-flow memo, content-moderation and DMCA policy, coordinated the full set, if that is what you need | from $3,000 |
| Written Attorney Consultation: a written answer on whether Section 230 or the DMCA safe harbor covers your model before you commit credited in full toward any package of $1,500 or more within 30 days | $300 |
The fee is fixed and agreed in writing before work begins. If the facts show you need the coordinated multi-document set rather than one policy, I say so and quote the marketplace stack instead; the $1,500 is credited toward it within 30 days.
Written fixed-fee quote, usually within two business hours. No call required: send the facts and documents; the engagement, work, and delivery are handled in writing.
Who this is for
- A marketplace, community, review site, forum, creator platform or app where users post listings, reviews, images, video or messages.
- A SaaS product adding user-generated content, comments or file sharing and now receiving its first takedown notices or complaints.
- A platform whose counsel in another country drafted its terms and now needs the U.S. content-liability layer: Section 230 posture, DMCA safe harbor, and a moderation policy that matches how the product actually operates.
- A founder who received a DMCA notice, a defamation complaint about a user post, or a demand that the platform "take responsibility" for user content.
What the $1,500 engagement covers
- Section 230 posture, applied to your product. 47 U.S.C. section 230(c)(1) shields a provider of an interactive computer service from being treated as the publisher of information provided by another information content provider, and section 230(c)(2) protects good-faith removal of objectionable material. The memo identifies where your product sits: which content is user-provided, where your own features or requirements could make you a co-developer of the content, and what the statute does not cover (intellectual property under section 230(e)(2), federal criminal law, and sex-trafficking claims after FOSTA).
- A DMCA program that actually qualifies for the section 512(c) safe harbor: a designated agent registered with the U.S. Copyright Office (the online registration must be renewed every three years), a notice procedure that reflects the section 512(c)(3) elements, expeditious takedown, the counter-notice and restoration process under section 512(g), and a repeat-infringer policy that is adopted, reasonably implemented and communicated to users as section 512(i) requires. Where you have actual or red-flag knowledge, or a direct financial benefit from infringing activity you control, the memo says so.
- A content-moderation policy and community guidelines with clear prohibited-content categories, an enforcement ladder (warning, removal, suspension, termination), an appeal path, record-keeping, and language that is consistent with your terms of service and privacy policy rather than contradicting them. Where a state transparency statute applies to a platform of your size, the memo flags it.
- Consistency across the documents you already have. The policy is drafted to fit your existing terms, privacy policy and provider agreement, with the specific clause changes they need noted.
- Up to three revision rounds by email and a short written issue memo mapping each finding to the clause and the statute.
What Section 230 does not do
It does not protect your own statements, content you require users to supply in an unlawful form, or claims the statute excludes: copyright and trademark (where the DMCA and your own policies carry the load), federal crimes, and FOSTA claims. It also does not stop a demand letter arriving; it decides how you answer it. The policy work is about keeping the protection, not about assuming it.
What the DMCA safe harbor costs you if the program is missing
Without a registered designated agent, a working notice process and a reasonably implemented repeat-infringer policy, the section 512(c) safe harbor is unavailable and every user upload is your exposure. The registration itself is inexpensive and online; the policy and the practice behind it are what the engagement builds.
What I need from you
- What users post and how it is displayed, ranked, edited or monetized; whether you host files, stream, or only link.
- Your current terms of service, privacy policy, any community guidelines, and the provider or seller agreement if you are a marketplace.
- Every notice, complaint or demand you have received so far, and how you handled it.
- Whether a DMCA agent is registered, who reviews reports today, and what tools you use to remove, suspend or appeal.
- Where your users and operations are; EU, UK and other non-U.S. regimes are flagged, not covered.
Jurisdiction, stated plainly
I am admitted in California and Washington. Section 230 and the DMCA are federal, so the review applies to platforms operating anywhere in the United States; state-specific transparency or consumer statutes are flagged for the states you name. The EU Digital Services Act, the UK Online Safety Act and other foreign regimes are outside this engagement.
Not included
- Responding to a particular takedown dispute or lawsuit, litigation, arbitration or representation before a platform, app store or regulator.
- Registering the DMCA agent for you (I give you the steps; the registration is yours), trademark or copyright registrations, and privacy or data-protection compliance work (see the SaaS and marketplace stacks).
- Advertising, consumer-protection, age-verification and children's-privacy reviews beyond flags.
How the engagement runs
You send the facts and documents through the quote form (or ask the AI Legal Analyst on this page). I reply in writing, usually within two business hours, with the scope, the fixed fee and an engagement letter you sign electronically; a fee over $1,000 is payable only after you sign. Standard delivery is two business days after the engagement is effective and I have the complete materials. I prepare the work using AI-assisted tools, review it before delivery, and remain responsible for its content. Everything is delivered by email in an organized folder; no calls are required.
Frequently asked questions
Does Section 230 protect a marketplace or platform from liability for user content?
Generally yes, for claims that treat the platform as the publisher of what a user posted: defamation, negligence and similar state-law claims. It does not cover the platform's own statements, content the platform materially helped develop, intellectual-property claims, federal criminal law or sex-trafficking claims after FOSTA. The engagement tells you where your specific features sit on that line and how to keep the protection.
What should a DMCA repeat-infringer policy address?
That the platform has adopted and reasonably implements a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, users who repeatedly infringe; how notices are counted and recorded; what happens at each strike; how counter-notices under section 512(g) are handled; how the policy is communicated to users; and who is responsible for it. It sits alongside a registered designated agent and a notice procedure that reflects the section 512(c)(3) elements, because all three are needed for the safe harbor.
Is the $1,500 review the same as the full marketplace legal stack?
No. The $1,500 covers one principal policy or agreement and a written issue memo. The Marketplace Platform Legal Stack, from $3,000, is the coordinated set: platform terms for both sides, a provider or seller agreement, the privacy layer and DPA as applicable, a payments-flow posture memo, and the content-moderation and DMCA policy. If the facts show you need the set, I say so and the $1,500 is credited toward it within 30 days.
Do I need to register a DMCA agent?
Yes, if you want the section 512(c) safe harbor for user uploads. The designated agent is registered online with the U.S. Copyright Office for a small fee and the registration must be renewed every three years; the agent's contact information also has to appear on your site. The engagement gives you the steps and the policy that goes with the registration; the registration itself is yours to file.
Do you handle takedown disputes, counter-notices or lawsuits over user content?
Not inside this engagement. The policy and memo are built so your team can run notices, counter-notices and appeals consistently. A specific dispute, a demand letter about a user post, or litigation is scoped separately: a received demand is handled through the Demand Response & Defense package, and a dispute that goes to court is a separate engagement.
Related
Sergei Tokmakov, Esq. · California Bar #279869 · Washington State Bar #65720 · licensed since 2011.
This page describes my services. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship; an engagement starts with a signed engagement letter.