14 Mai 2021
Hamburg schreitet ein
Morgen treten die neuen Nutzungs- und Datenschutzbestimmungen von WhatsApp in Kraft, die den Nutzern noch weitergehend als bisher die Kontrolle über ihre Daten entziehen. Am Dienstag hat der Hamburgische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit eine Anordnung erlassen, die Facebook Ireland Ltd. untersagt, personenbezogene Daten von WhatsApp zu verarbeiten, soweit dies zu eigenen Zwecken erfolgt. Das war ein ungewöhnlicher Schritt, da eigentlich die Irische Datenschutzaufsichtsbehörde federführende Aufsichtsbehörde über Facebook ist. Er war aber richtig, wenn das europäische Datenschutzrecht einheitlich und effektiv in Europa durchgesetzt werden soll. Continue reading >>
0 
11 Mai 2021
Trump’s Indefinite Ban
After months of waiting, the Facebook Oversight Board has upheld Facebook’s ban of former President Donald Trump. Beyond the merits, the decision underlines a trend showing how the FOB is applying protections of free speech. The FOB’s increasing reliance on the principle of proportionality and transparency is a paradigmatic example of an ever-growing distance to the First Amendment dogma characterising US constitutionalism and the proximity to the European (digital) constitutional approach. Continue reading >>07 Mai 2021
Soziale Netzwerke in der Grundrechts-Klemme?
Seit 2018 häufen sich Klagen, mit denen sich Nutzer dagegen wehren, dass ihre Beiträge auf sozialen Netzwerken wie Facebook gelöscht werden. Gegenteilig will die Grünen-Politikerin Renate Künast nun vor der Richterbank Facebook dazu zwingen, konsequent(er) gegen Falschmeldungen vorzugehen. Netzwerkbetreiber drohen so in eine Klemme zwischen Meinungsfreiheit und Persönlichkeitsschutz zu geraten. Continue reading >>
0
26 Februar 2021
Flexing the Muscles of Information Power
Since July 2020, the global news media industry has been looking at Australia’s draft code, that would force Google and Facebook to negotiate with news publishers, pay for news, share data and advertising revenues. Facebook, in response, decided to ban Australian publishers and users from sharing or viewing Australian as well as international news content. Soon after, the social media changed its view, once the Australian government decided to step back and negotiate with Facebook. This interaction is not just an example of how Facebook can influence public policies, but also shows how powers are relocated among different actors in the information society. Continue reading >>10 Februar 2021
Constitutional Review via Facebook’s Oversight Board
For all its disorienting novelty, the Facebook Oversight Board’s recent debut thrust us back to a familiar script, that of the emergence of constitutional review, much like the bpower reclaimed by the US Supreme Court in Marbury v Madison. The resemblance not only passed unnoticed; commentators emphatically deny it. I pick up on this strangely recurrent historical parallel and argue that at closer inspection, the OB’s first set of decisions are, indeed, the Marbury v Madison of platform governance. Continue reading >>29 Januar 2021
Facebook’s Oversight Board Takes on the Curious Case of Donald J. Trump
Facebook announced last week that it would refer the question of its decision to remove Donald Trump from its platforms to the Oversight Board. The case concerning the former President’s account marks a notable departure from the approach through the initial slate of Oversight Board cases announced in December and resolved this month. The decision the Board takes -- which will be binding, Facebook says -- could have major implications for the future of platform governance. But it may also force Facebook to reckon with its past. Continue reading >>
0
19 Dezember 2020
Facebook’s Oversight Board Just Announced Its First Cases, But It Already Needs An Overhaul
On the 1st of December, the first cases the newly constituted Facebook Oversight Board will consider were published. They underscore that the Oversight Board was never going to be a panacea for the complex problem of content moderation on a platform that hosts billions of users, but it is clear already that the Board’s governance model requires an overhaul if it is to achieve meaningful success. Continue reading >>18 Dezember 2020
Corona Constitutional, Folge #53: Ein Recht auf Anonymität im Internet
Die Anonymität im Internet ist unter Beschuss: Das OLG München hat in der vergangenen Woche entschieden, dass Facebook seine Nutzerinnnen und Nutzer zur Verwendung von Klarnamen zwingen kann. Immer wieder kommt auch die Forderung nach einem "digitalen Vermummungsverbot" auf, um "sozialschädliches Verhalten" einzudämmen. ERIK TUCHTFELD spricht mit JOHANNES CASPAR, dem Hamburgischen Beauftragten für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, über die Bedeutung von Anonymität für die Meinungsfreiheit und Möglichkeit, trotz Anonymität auch Hassrede und Straftaten effektiv zu bekämpfen. Continue reading >>
0
02 Dezember 2020
No “Censor for the World”
Will the internet become a “worldwide censorship machine”? Has the “risk that a single EU court within a single EU member state would become the censor for the world” been realized? Not quite. Much of the critique of the recent Austrian Supreme Court ruling Glawischnig-Piesczek/Facebook Ireland Limited is based on a wrong reading of the law and policy behind the judgment. Continue reading >>
0
30 November 2020
The Sorrows of Scraping for Science
Access to data is an overall challenge for researchers when investigating social media platforms' content moderation policies and practices. Researchers need empirical evidence to ground their arguments and public interest research. Platforms have not only not providing data, but are, in fact, further restricting access. Both platforms and governments should make an effort to improve on the availability of data for research, and, to this end, clarify the law in this space. Continue reading >>
0