08 November 2022
Why the DSA could save us from the rise of authoritarian regimes
The rise of extremist right-wing governments, as observed recently in Italy, is closely linked to the business models of large digital platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. Their algorithms polarise debates and stir up emotions because that enables them to keep people on their screens for longer and show them advertising. The European Union’s Digital Services Act is the framework to address this dangerous development. Continue reading >>
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08 November 2022
The DSA fails to reign in the most harmful digital platform businesses – but it is still useful
While the DSA has just been crafted carefully enough to avoid major damage to digital rights in the EU, it has focussed so much on who must delete what kind of content within which time frame, that it missed the bigger picture: no content moderation policy in the world will protect us from harmful online content as long as we do not address the dominant, yet incredibly damaging surveillance business model of most large tech firms. Continue reading >>
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07 November 2022
The EU’s new Digital Services Act and the Rest of the World
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is a major milestone in the history of platform regulation. Other governments are now asking themselves what the DSA’s passage means for them. The DSA is a far better law than most that have been proposed in other parts of the world. I have encouraged U.S. lawmakers to emulate it in many respects. But lawmakers around the world should view it as a starting point, rather than an end point, in considering potential regulations in their own countries. T Continue reading >>
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07 November 2022
If You Build It, They Will Come
Content moderation is not only an Internet governance problem; it is also, unavoidably, a form of de facto adjudication. When observed in detail, the “procedure before substance” approach of the DSA leaves many questions unanswered. The final text of the Regulation contains compromises and blind spots. Continue reading >>
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04 November 2022
Now What
The question of the DSA's enforcement has already been getting considerable attention, with one of the main concerns being that the resources put forth by the European Commission are too humble when compared to the DSA’s far-reaching goals. More concerningly, the DSA leaves loopholes and grey areas in respect to native advertising and the influencer economy. Continue reading >>
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01 November 2022
Fundamental rights impact assessments in the DSA
The attention to fundamental rights in the new wave of EU digital regulation, confirmed in the Digital Services Act, is a significant step towards a more articulated and appropriate framework for protecting people in a context characterised by pervasive technologies that are often developed without adequate consideration of their impact on society. However, existing practices in human rights impact assessment show some limitations in being extended to the digital context. Continue reading >>
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02 August 2022
Challenging Censorship
India’s online censorship laws have, since they were framed, been entirely lacking in transparency, and have consequently shielded the Indian government from any and all form of accountability. A writ petition by Twitter in an Indian High Court hopes to change that. Depending on which way the Courts rule, the fundamental rights of free expression, of due process and of access to the internet of millions of Indians are going to be decided by the end of this case. Continue reading >>
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10 March 2022
Big Tech War Activism
The war in Ukraine is live. It’s not only live on CNN or Al Jazeera but it’s live on different social media platforms, for better and worse. In this context, Big Tech platforms are not neutral. Rather, along with their users, they are giving rise to a new wave of tech war activism, siding with Ukraine. While many of these initiatives may be well intended, this new form of tech activism raises questions about the role of social media in times of war. Continue reading >>24 February 2022
The DSA’s Industrial Model for Content Moderation
I expect that in many real-world cases, the process prescribed by the DSA will waste resources that could better be spent elsewhere, and burden smaller platforms to a degree that effectively sacrifices competition and pluralism goals in the name of content regulation. There is a difference between procedural rules that legitimately protect fundamental rights and the exhaustive processes that might exist in a hyper-rationalized, industrial model of content moderation. The line between the two is not always clear. But I think the DSA often crosses it. Continue reading >>
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14 December 2021
The EU’s Proposed Platform Work Directive
On 8 December 2021, the European Commission published its long-awaited draft of a Directive aimed at improving working conditions in the platform (or ‘gig’) economy. Our tentative first assessment is positive: while there is some room for improvement during the legislative process, the framework laid down promises to tackle some of the most salient problems arising from platform work. Continue reading >>
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