09 November 2022
Will the DSA work?
The DSA has many components but, in its essence, it is a digital due process regulation bundled with risk-management tools. But will these tools work? My main concern about the DSA resides also in its strength – it relies on societal structures that the law can only foresee and incentivize but cannot build; only people can. These structures, such as local organisations analysing threats, consumer groups helping content creators, and communities of researchers, are the only ones to give life to the DSA’s tools. Continue reading >>
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04 November 2022
Regulating influence, timidly
The DSA considers advertising and recommender systems as deserving of regulatory attention, and not immutable facets of an online world. But even as the regulation furthers current standards in disclosures around online advertising, it insulates advertising business models and consolidates platform efforts to sidestep the operative question that characterizes online advertising: how and why advertisements reach who they reach, in less abstract terms. Continue reading >>
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05 August 2022
The Re-Emergence of the Net Neutrality Debate in Europe
The European online space has been subjected to intensive legal reforms in recent years, and the policy and regulatory debates regarding the role and obligations of tech companies in Europe are far from over. With the rumoured Connectivity Infrastructure Act, the European Commission seeks to compel Big Tech actors to financially contribute to telecommunications infrastructure. This initiative risks opening the pandora's box of net neutrality, and potentially endangers the democratic principles of freedom of expression and pluralism. Continue reading >>
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10 März 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 >>07 April 2021
Democratizing the App Store
As of March 2021, several State bills in the United States have been launched to address the antitrust issues with the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. The two Tech Giants Apple and Google are charging software developers up to a 30 percent commission on the price of paid apps and in-app purchases. Legislators not only in the US but also in the EU aim to address the “gatekeeper” role of Big Tech, such as Amazon and Google. When attempting to democratize app stores, legislators should aim to allow small developers and startups easy access to app stores. This would both decrease prices for consumers and allow for more innovation and consumer choice. Continue reading >>
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02 März 2021
The Digital Services Act and the Reproduction of Old Confusions
While intended to refit the 20-year-old E-Commerce Directive, the Digital Services Act reproduces a central confusion in its predecessor: The interplay between a lack of knowledge or awareness of illegality remains a precondition to enjoy liability exemptions, however, the Digital Services Act encourages platforms proactive investigation of hosted content, which might trigger aforementioned knowledge or awareness. The inclusion of a Section 230-like ‘good Samaritan clause’, meant to facilitate proactive, own-initiative investigations of user speech by platforms, complicates matters further. Continue reading >>16 Februar 2021
The Facebook Oversight Board and ‚Context‘
The standout conclusion of the Facebook Oversight Board's two hate speech decisions is that the Board's assessment of content removal heavily relies on context. This is only reasonable, as any speech issue is context-dependent. But the FOB’s context-assessment is incomplete, just as its decisions further highlight Facebook’s content moderation flaws, which likewise fail to consider context. Continue reading >>
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05 Februar 2021
Shedding Light on the Darkness of Content Moderation
With the Facebook Oversight Board, we face a new age of private adjudication of online content, which promises an alternative system to enforce human rights on a global scale, while marginalising and hybridising constitutional values and democratic safeguards. Digital constitutionalism offers a framework to look at this new form of private adjudication of online content and its challenges. A look at the FOB’s first cases is an opportunity peek behind the scenes of content moderation, as well as a laboratory to study the transnational challenges which the information society has raised to global (digital) constitutionalism. Continue reading >>
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19 Januar 2021
Tackling Big Tech
Am 14. Januar hat der Bundestag weitreichende Änderungen des Gesetzes gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (GWB) beschlossen. Zentrale Aspekte der Novelle betreffen die Missbrauchsaufsicht des Bundeskartellamts über digitale Plattformen. Doch ob die Anpassungen tatsächlich geeignet sind, die Marktmacht der großen Plattformunternehmen und deren Verhalten im Wettbewerb wirksam zu adressieren, bleibt abzuwarten. Bis zum Inkrafttreten entsprechender Regeln auf EU-Ebene – voraussichtlich im Digital Markets Act – können mit dem deutschen Recht aber in jedem Fall wichtige Erfahrungen für die Anwendungspraxis gewonnen werden. Continue reading >>
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04 Januar 2021