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Dispute System

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John Williams edited this page Mar 9, 2026 · 1 revision

Dispute System

The dispute system is the most important legal and ethical component of ARGUS. It is designed to be real, fair, fast, and prominently accessible.

Overview

Any person whose profile has been analyzed and published can submit a dispute at: argus.googleadsagent.ai/dispute

Disputes are reviewed within 14 business days. The claimant receives an email notification of the outcome.

Evidence Tiers

The strength of a dispute determines how it is processed.

Tier 1 — Strong Evidence (expedited review)

  • Government-issued ID matching the profile name
  • Verified employer confirmation on official letterhead
  • Platform's own verified badge or identity documentation

Outcome: Near-automatic approval. Page removed, replaced with dispute-resolved notice.

Tier 2 — Supporting Evidence (standard human review)

  • Dated photographs establishing the person behind the account
  • Cross-platform presence predating the account creation date
  • Two or more professional references with verifiable identities
  • Domain ownership records matching claimed employer

Outcome: Human review within 14 days. Score may be updated; dispute note added to page.

Tier 3 — Insufficient Evidence (dispute denied)

  • "I am real" with no supporting documentation
  • Screenshots of the disputed profile itself as evidence
  • Character references without any verifiable identity information
  • Claims without any supporting documentation

Outcome: Dispute denied. Reason provided to claimant. Appeal option available.

Dispute Flow

1. Claimant submits dispute at /dispute
   (name, email, dispute type, reason, evidence)

2. Auto-acknowledgment email within 24 hours
   "We received your dispute. Reference ID: [uuid]"

3. Evidence review (up to 14 business days)
   Admin reviews evidence tier and makes decision

4. Resolution options:
   a) APPROVED — Page removed, dispute-resolved notice published
   b) PARTIAL   — Score updated with dispute note on page
   c) REJECTED  — Dispute denied, reason provided, appeal offered

5. Outcome email sent to claimant at their provided address

6. Dispute record logged permanently (anonymized in public metadata)

What Happens After a Successful Dispute

The profile page does not disappear entirely. It converts to a dispute-resolved notice:

argus.googleadsagent.ai/profiles/[slug]

✅ DISPUTE RESOLVED

This profile was previously analyzed and scored at 18/100.
A dispute was submitted on March 1, 2026 and verified on March 10, 2026.
The analysis has been removed following successful identity verification.
This notice is retained for methodological transparency.

[Date of original analysis] [Date of resolution]

Why We Retain the Notice

  1. Prevents re-flagging — the same profile cannot be immediately re-submitted after a successful dispute
  2. Demonstrates process integrity — shows the dispute system works
  3. Methodological transparency — the community can see false positive resolution
  4. Legal protection — documents that due process was followed

Dispute Types

Type When to Use
false_positive The account is real and belongs to you
opt_out You want your profile removed regardless of accuracy
data_correction The score is partially wrong — specific signal is incorrect

Opt-Out Without Proof

ARGUS allows opt-out requests even without evidence under specific circumstances:

  • The account was analyzed but the score is below the publication threshold (never published) — honored immediately
  • The account belongs to a minor — honored immediately with age verification
  • The account belongs to someone in a protected class facing safety risks — reviewed expeditiously

For published pages, opt-out without supporting evidence is evaluated case by case. A "I don't want this page to exist" request without evidence of falsity is not automatically honored — doing so would undermine the value of the entire system to the public.

Appeals

If a dispute is rejected, the claimant can appeal by:

  1. Replying to the rejection email with additional evidence
  2. Escalating to disputes@googleadsagent.ai with the dispute ID

Appeals are reviewed within 30 days by a different reviewer than the original decision.

Admin Dispute Workflow

In the admin dashboard at /admin:

  1. Navigate to Disputes tab
  2. Select a pending dispute
  3. Review claimant information, dispute type, and reason
  4. Check evidence files if uploaded
  5. Enter a resolution note (sent to claimant)
  6. Click Approve Dispute (removes page) or Reject Dispute

When you approve a dispute:

  • Profile status updates to removed
  • Score cache cleared
  • Page converts to dispute-resolved notice
  • Claimant notified by email

When you reject a dispute:

  • Profile status unchanged
  • Dispute logged with rejected status
  • Claimant notified with reason and appeal instructions

Privacy

Dispute submissions are private. The following is never made public:

  • Claimant name or email
  • Evidence submitted
  • Specific resolution reason

The following is made public on the profile page:

  • Number of disputes submitted (count only)
  • Whether a dispute was resolved successfully (yes/no)
  • Date of resolution

This protects claimant privacy while maintaining process transparency.

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