File a Complaint
Initiate an investigation by QC
QC investigates published and online media that no regulator covers. If you have been named, described or depicted in material you believe is defamatory, inaccurate, unlawful or unsafe, and the outlet answers to nobody, this is where you tell us about it. Every complaint is read by a person, and the outcome is published in the same way as our existing investigation reports.
Organisations QC cannot investigate
Some complaints belong to a regulator that already handles them, at no cost to you. The form below checks for these before it asks you to pay, and stops if it finds one.
QC does not investigate broadcasters
Complaints about television and radio are handled by Ofcom, the statutory broadcast regulator. QC investigates published and online media that no regulator covers.
Complain to OfcomQC does not investigate advertising
Complaints about advertisements are handled by the Advertising Standards Authority. QC investigates editorial content, not advertising.
Complain to the ASAThis publication already has a regulator
You told us this publication is regulated by IMPRESS or by IPSO — whichever it is, that regulator handles complaints about its members directly and at no cost, and QC investigates outlets that no regulator covers, so it cannot take this complaint. Check the IMPRESS directory (https://www.impressorg.com/join-us/our-members/member-directory/) or the IPSO directory (https://www.ipso.co.uk/making-a-complaint/who-ipso-regulates/) to confirm which one, and how to complain to them directly.
Check the IMPRESS directoryQC cannot pursue compensation for copyright infringement
Where a copyright complaint is aimed at recovering compensation, that is a legal claim rather than an editorial standards question, and QC cannot identify or pursue it. The Intellectual Property Office explains the routes available.
Read the IPO guidance
Most publications have no regulator at all. If you are not sure about yours, check the IMPRESS member directory and the IPSO register, or tell the form you are not sure — that answer does not stop your complaint.
What happens when you fill the form in
As you answer, the form applies four fixed rules: whether the outlet is on our verified list of regulated publishers, whether the material was broadcast, whether it was an advertisement, and whether a copyright complaint is aimed at recovering compensation. Any one of them stops the form and tells you where to go instead, before you are asked for money. There is no algorithm and no scoring. If the four rules pass, a person reads what you have written and decides.