04 February 2023
“Marg bar Khamenei”
The Oversight Board has evaluated the use of a protest slogan used by Iranian dissidents, calling for "marg bar Khamenei", which literally translates as "death to Khamenei", yet is often used to mean "down with Khamenei". Meta removed it for violating its community standards against violence and incitement. At EU level, Art. 14(4) DSA provides for an unprecedented obligation, which requires social media platforms to act in a proportionate manner in applying and enforcing their terms and conditions, with due regard to the rights and legitimate interests of all parties involved. Examining the Oversight Board's reasoning, we explore how Art. 14(4) DSA would be operationalized in this case. Continue reading >>
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22 December 2022
Much Ado About Nothing
On 15 December, the European Commission adopted a European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. It builds upon primary EU law instruments, and the question inevitably arises of what additional value and effect the Declaration may have. Continue reading >>
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14 December 2022
Twitter – Wie der Digital Services Act willkürlichen (Ent-)Sperrungen und der „Generalamnestie“ eine Absage erteilt
Die Willkür Elon Musks auf Twitter sorgt für Entsetzen. Er hat durch willkürliche (Ent-)Sperrungen von Nutzer*innen zur Unsicherheit und Polarisierung des Online-Diskurses beigetragen. Derartiger Willkür bei der Mitgliedermoderation wird der neue Digital Services Act der EU einen Riegel vorschieben. Continue reading >>
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13 December 2022
Schutz vor Verletzung von Persönlichkeitsrechten und „Desinformation“ in sozialen Medien unter Bedingungen der politischen Polarisierung
Für den Schutz vor Persönlichkeitsverletzungen in Medien wie Twitter und Facebook gilt im Wesentlichen und kaum verändert das auf den Schutz des Individuums eingestellte Äußerungsrecht, wie es seit vielen Jahrzehnten besteht. Das deutsche NetzDG und der europäische Digital Services Act (DSA) ergänzen dies um eine quantitative kollektive Dimension: Für den Schutz gegen die große Zahl der rechtswidrigen Äußerungen im Internet wird eine Art Rasenmäher-Prinzip entwickelt, das vor allem schnelle Löschungen durch Provider erzwingen soll. Dies ist nicht der richtige Ansatz. Continue reading >>
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21 November 2022
Nein, Elon Musk, so geht Plattformdemokratie nicht
Nach einer Online-Abstimmung hat Elon Musk den Account von Donald Trump freigeschaltet: “The people have spoken. / Trump will be reinstated. / Vox Populi, Vox Dei”, schreibt er. Grundlage für die Entscheidung ware eine Online-Abstimmung mit 15 Millionen Teilnehmer*innen, die 51,8% zu 48,2% für eine Entsperrung ausgegangen ist. Doch so geht digitale Demokratie nicht, so geht Plattformregulierung nicht. Continue reading >>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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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 >>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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