News on Governance

Social media

Banning children’s social media use: A wave of symbolic regulations, but at what cost?

Pascal Schneiders, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Alicia Gilbert, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
PUBLISHED ON: 13 Mar 2024

Recent public discourse on social media sounds somewhat dystopian: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and co. knowingly use manipulative design features and algorithms to keep users hooked. Children and young people are particularly susceptible to this — staring at their screen for countless hours, they become addicted, depressed, and plagued by anxiety

Dark patterns

Gaming the mind: Unmasking 'dark patterns' in video games

Weiwei Yi, University of Glasgow
PUBLISHED ON: 06 Feb 2024

Stepping into a virtual realm where every move you make is not solely your own but is subtly orchestrated by game designers — where there could be 'dark patterns' controlling your gaming experience, dopamine rushes and spending habits — is a concerning but not unrealistic portrayal of the future of gameplay. Ongoing regulatory debates in the EU

Artificial intelligence

The road to regulation of artificial intelligence: the Brazilian experience

Laura Schertel Mendes, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Beatriz Kira, University of Sussex
PUBLISHED ON: 21 Dec 2023

Brazil is currently examining a comprehensive AI bill to establish a rights-based and risk-based regulatory framework. In contrast to notions of legal transplant or the influence of the Brussels effect, Brazil seeks to carve its own path, addressing the nation's distinct challenges and opportunities.

Audiovisual media

Regulating Netflix: A cross-national momentum?

Antonios Vlassis, University of Liège
PUBLISHED ON: 21 Apr 2023

The author argues that the regulation over transnational audiovisual platforms (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+) is framed by two crucial variables: handling state-interest groups relationships and global interdependence.

Artificial intelligence

Identifying harm in manipulative artificial intelligence practices

Suzanne Vergnolle, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Nov 2021

This op-ed is part of a series of opinion pieces edited by Amélie Heldt in the context of a workshop on the Digital Services Act Package hosted by the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society on 15 and 16 November 2021 in Berlin. This workshop brought together legal scholars and social scientists to get a better understanding of the DSA

Digital Services Act (DSA)

P2B and the missing relational dimensions of the Digital Services Act

Ohad Somech, Bar-Ilan University
Maayan Perel, Netanya Academic College
Niva Elkin-Koren, Tel Aviv University
PUBLISHED ON: 23 Nov 2021

This op-ed is part of a series of opinion pieces edited by Amélie Heldt in the context of a workshop on the Digital Services Act Package hosted by the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society on 15 and 16 November 2021 in Berlin. This workshop brought together legal scholars and social scientists to get a better understanding of the DSA

Risk-based regulation

The Digital Services Act: risk-based regulation of online platforms

Zohar Efroni, Weizenbaum Institute
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Nov 2021

This op-ed is part of a series of opinion pieces edited by Amélie Heldt in the context of a workshop on the Digital Services Act Package hosted by the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society on 15 and 16 November 2021 in Berlin. This workshop brought together legal scholars and social scientists to get a better understanding of the DSA

Digital Services Act

Framing the Digital Services Act within transatlantic digital constitutionalism

Giovanni De Gregorio, University of Oxford
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Nov 2021

This op-ed is part of a series of opinion pieces edited by Amélie Heldt in the context of a workshop on the Digital Services Act Package hosted by the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society on 15 and 16 November 2021 in Berlin. This workshop brought together legal scholars and social scientists to get a better understanding of the DSA

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