19 July 2024
Proximity, Amicable Settlements, and how the EU Guts GDPR Enforcement
The EU legislator is working on a new Regulation to modify the GDPR. Unfortunately, the reform features deeply troubling elements. It seeks to mainstream a controversial Irish approach to dealing with data protection complaints, namely “amicable settlements” between individuals and digital corporations. Further, and rather problematically, the reform foreshadows the end of the principle of proximity. Gutting – or at least eroding – the proximity principle should ring alarm bells for anyone concerned with effective judicial remedies in the EU. Continue reading >>
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07 July 2023
Competition law as a powerful tool for effective enforcement of the GDPR
It looks like a good week for data protection. On Tuesday, the Commission presented a new proposal for a Regulation on additional procedural rules for the GDPR, and a few hours later, the ECJ published its decision C-252/21 on Meta Platforms v Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office). While the Commission's proposal to improve enforcement in cross-border cases should probably be taken with a pinch of salt, the ECJ ruled on some things with remarkable clarity. The first reactions to the ruling were quite surprising; few had expected the ECJ to take such a clear stance against Meta's targeted advertising business model. It does however represent a consistent interpretation of the GDPR in the tradition and understanding of power-limiting data protection. Continue reading >>
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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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15 December 2022
Articulating Legitimacy through Policy Recommendations
On 6 December, Meta's Oversight Board issued a policy advisory opinion on 'cross-check', a content moderation system used by the company to avoid the erroneous removal of content shared by highly influential users on its platforms. Despite the opinion’s directness in calling Meta out for the disproportionate attention paid to corporate interests to the detriment of its human rights commitments, the OB’s decision presents an underlying duplicity, as it criticises policy and design choices replicated in the OB’s own architecture. This curtails the institution's capacity to enhance accountability and legitimacy. Continue reading >>
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10 November 2022
Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator
Elon Musk, Twitter’s conspicuous new owner, famously spoke out against Trump's deplatforming, raising concerns that he could undo it upon gaining control of the social media platform. Mr. Musk was quick to dispel these fears. He first reassured advertisers that he has no plans to relax content moderation standards. In addition, he announced that the reactivation of banned accounts is s Anyone feeling a sense of déjà vu? Continue reading >>23 June 2022
Tackling Discrimination in Targeted Advertising
On 21 June Meta and the US Department for Housing and Urban Development released a legal settlement that will restrict Meta’s ability to offer those clients some of its core ad-targeting products. It resolves (for now) a long-running case over discriminatory targeting of housing adverts. Meta is now prohibited from using certain targeting tools in this context, and has promised new tools to ensure more representative targeting. This US lawsuit should be a wake-up call for European regulators, reminding them that taking systemic discrimination seriously requires proactive regulatory reform and enforcement. The relevant provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA) are largely symbolic. Continue reading >>
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