News and Research articles on Regulation

Despite its growing success and widespread adoption around the world, open banking (OB) struggles to present a coherent identity. Since OB is driven by various justifications, identifying the primary motivations behind regulatory initiatives is crucial for assessing whether the implemented features align with the intended policy objectives.

Recommendation algorithms potentially amplifying extremist content has become a policy concern in recent years. We conduct a novel empirical experiment on three platforms (YouTube, Reddit, and Gab) to test this phenomenon. We find that YouTube’s “Recommended for you” system does promote extreme content. We synthesise the findings into the policy debate and argue that co-regulation may provide some solutions.

This article formulates a list of permitted and forbidden rationales for the rankings of search results within app stores.

This article proposes the concept of platform observability to help systematically study complex algorithmic systems. It sets out three broad principles as guidelines for making platforms more accountable.

Through empirical methods that walkthrough a typical user experience for acquiring virtual private network (VPN) services, this paper attempts to answer the question of how we come to trust, use and govern VPNs.

Content moderation has exploded as a public and a policy concern, but the debate remains too narrow. Nine experts suggest ways to expand it.

Discussing three factors that characterise the activities of political campaigners, this article demonstrates variations in who is using data in campaigns, what the sources of campaign data are, and how data informs communication.

What are the informal arrangements governing online content on platforms in Europe, and what are the factors that make them more or less successful?

Zero rating has emerged as one of the most contentious communications policy debates of the last decade. The offer of ‘free’ access to select applications compromises network neutrality, at the same time as it can present advantages to users with limited economic resources. How can we attempt to reconcile these conflicting dimensions of zero rating?

This article distils from the various (proposals for) platform regulation operational principles that can serve as the basis for productive debate on the subject.

In this article the 'Internet of Things' is considered to be a new, powerful governance factor challenging regulation by law described as the ‘Governance by Things’.

Liberal democracies are increasingly considering internet filtering as a means to assert state control over online information exchanges. A variety of filtering techniques have been implemented in Western states to prevent access to certain content deemed harmful. This development poses a series of democratic and ethical questions, particularly when states introduce regulation mandating ISPs to block online content. A first version of this article was previously published at the FOCI'12 conference.

Private actors in the information technology sector are currently playing an increasingly important role in content mediation, as well as in regulation of online forms of expression, with implications for both internet rights and economic freedom. The latest Google Transparency Report (Google, 2013) released on January 24, 2013, sends a clear and somewhat disquieting message to the advocates of a more transparent internet governance worldwide. Several governments in the European Union are submitting a steadily increasing number of requests to the giant of online information search, with two purposes: the acquisition of several types of sensitive information about internet users – including …