Research articles on GOVERNANCE

Do machines have morality? Should robots have rights? Which ethical guideline should we adopt to orient their advancement? In this paper we will discuss the main normative and ethical challenges imposed by the artificial intelligence context.

Public policy proposals regarding algorithms are often based on purely theoretically derived risk assessments. We propose a user-centred mixed-methods approach for more evidence-based policymaking.

This paper analyses the aftermath of the advertiser revolt on YouTube to draw out the broader implications of the controversy as it relates to the algorithmic gatekeeping of culture. It argues that the event shows as never before that decisions about categorisation and classification of cultural content invariably affect the financial trajectory of the said content. It ends by calling for broader stakeholder participation within key decision-making processes of digital platforms.

This paper is part of Transnational materialities, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by José van Dijck and Bernhard Rieder. 1. Digitalisation and democracy: proposal for a research perspective The relevance of digital media for contemporary democracies is a subject of increasing interest across the social sciences, the media and the political sphere. We are observing a growing diversity of political engagement, political actors and organisational forms, particularly around election and referendum campaigns. At the same time, conventional boundaries between social movements, public audiences and political parties, even between political and non-political action are …

This paper is part of Transnational materialities, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by José van Dijck and Bernhard Rieder. Introduction In March 2019, the European Commission fined Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. 1.5 billion euro for antitrust violations in the online advertising market—the third fine in three years. In July 2018, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had levied a record fine of 4.3 billion euro on Google for breaching European competition rules by forcing cell phone manufacturers to pre-install a dozen of the firms’ apps when using Android—Google’s mobile operating system. And in 2016, the company was punished for unlawfully favouring Google …

This paper is part of Transnational materialities, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by José van Dijck and Bernhard Rieder. Introduction Questions about how data is generated, collected and used have taken hold of public imagination in recent years, not least in relation to government. While the collection of data about populations has always been central to practices of governance, the digital era has placed increased emphasis on the politics of data in state-citizen relations and contemporary power dynamics. In part a continuation of long-standing processes of bureaucratisation, the turn to data-centric practices in government across Western democracies emerges out of …

Standard form consumer contracts (SFCCs), including Terms of Service agreements, are drafted by businesses and presented to consumers on a non-negotiable basis. Since these contracts present an asymmetric imbalance of information and resources between parties, they have been of concern for consumer rights in recent years. While some have characterized these issues as a ‘duty to read’ for consumers or as egregious terms and weak disclosures by drafters,’ this project suggests at least part of the issues exist from a lack of consideration of the document itself (i.e., medium, format, authenticy, reliability, stability) and the processes that deem it ‘standard.’

Datafication (the quantification of social life) is a colonial move which perpetuates a legacy of appropriation. But how to regulate this?

People are increasingly concerned that data collectors can use information about them to subtly influence their decision-making—what is often called “online manipulation”. To further efforts at combating such strategies, this paper defines “online manipulation” and explores the harms it threatens.