IGF 2020 Platform Regulations: Towards A Common Vocabulary

Information

Session

Time:

Thursday, 5 November, 2020 - 16:20 to 17:50 UTC

Room:

Room 1

About this Session:

This session will discuss the most relevant and contentious platforms governance issues such as AI, content moderation, effective remedies that need a convergent approach to be addressed effectively. It will present the first consolidated draft of the Glossary on Platform Law and Policy, a guide on key terms related to platform governance for policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders alike.

DC:

Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility

Panel - Auditorium - 90 Min

Area:

Trust

Approach:

Content Blocking and Filtering
Information and disinformation
Platforms

Description:

This session will feature an expert-led discussion of recent trends and developments around platform governance. It will begin with a series of brief presentations of the DC output for 2019/2020: a Glossary of terms of platform law and policy. This will be followed by an open discussion with specific focus on future directions of work for the DCPR.

Relevance to IG:

The proposal aims to provide visibility to the important work of the DCPR around the definition and simplification of key internet governance issues, such as platform responsibility, content recognition technologies, disinformation, various forms of online harm, end to end encryption, recommender systems, data portability, interoperability and non-discrimination (just to name a few). This will provide the floor for a multistakeholder discussion, bringing together a range of views, and account for the relationships between existing laws, enforcement and self-regulation in crucial platform governance domains.

Relevance to Theme:

The discussion that this proposal aims to stimulate would enable the identification by stakeholders of diverging and converging approaches to responsible content moderation, thus elucidating the importance of different approaches to responsibility for platforms and users alike.

Organizers:

Nicolo Zingales, FGV + Luca Belli, FGV

Speakers:

Keynote speeches on Platform Governance and its new dimensions

Julie Owono, Oversight Board (Facebook)
Lofred Madzou, World Economic Forum

Presentations (5-minute long) by panellists followed by open discussion:

Richard Wingfield, Global Partners Digital
Rossana Ducato, University of Aberdeen and UC Louvain
Catalina Goanta, Maastricht University
Rolf H. Weber, University of Zurich
Chris Marsden, University of Sussex
Giovanni De Gregorio, Milano Bicocca University
Paddy Leerseen, University of Amsterdam

Enguerrand Marique, UC Louvain & University of Radboud-Nijmegen

Yasmin Curzi, FGV

Ivar Hartmann, FGV

Onsite Moderator:

Nicolo Zingales, FGV + Luca Belli, FGV

Online Moderator:

Yasmin Curzi, FGV

Rapporteur:

Yasmin Curzi, FGV

SDGs:

GOAL 12: Responsible Production and Consumption

Report

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues:

● What are the main concepts within the platforms' governance debate?

● Which are the key internet governance issues nowadays and the most effective remedies?

● What is the best governance model, taking into account existing laws, enforcement, self-regulation and other institutions?

2. Summary of Issues Discussed:

- Areas of broad support/agreement:
Platform governance: may mean how platforms govern societies or how societies govern platforms. It may also include the platforms' technological architectures and design.
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition, the social risk of these technologies is increased. The design of the system must encompass different views in order to avoid blind spots in this sense. We need to look at accountability of a system, not only explainability - understand how the system was put together.
Terrorist content is more than cyberterrorism. Fear-inducing information and extremist discourse are characteristics of the concept, which makes it a difficult distinction from hate speech, but a very important distinction.
Areas of no agreement/areas needing further discussion and development
How to manage private and public order when it comes to content moderation online?
Methodological challenges and choices of the authors when writing the entries and defining the concepts on the Glossary - which is still in its draft version and open for modifications until december.

3. Key Takeaways:

The aim of the session was to bring together experts from different fields. A common vocabulary may unite specialized conversations on platform governance that have been going on. In this sense, the fundamental goal of the Glossary on Platforms Law and Policy is to provide different readings and to inform decision-makers in their activities.

4. Policy Recommendations or Suggestions for the Way Forward:

What policy sector(s) does this fall under? (leave blank if not sure):

Economic

Social-cultural

Technical

Other (put the information in the "Recommendation" box above)

Issue and Recommendation:

The session proposal was to provide visibility to the important work of the DCPR around the definition and simplification of key internet governance issues, such as platform responsibility, content recognition technologies, disinformation, various forms of online harm, end to end encryption, recommender systems, data portability, interoperability and non-discrimination. This will provide the floor for a multistakeholder discussion, bringing together a range of views, and account for the relationships between existing laws, enforcement and self-regulation in crucial platform governance domains.

5. Other Initiatives Addressing the Session Issues:

Initiative:

- Content moderation - Facebook Oversight Board

6. Final Speakers:

Julie Owono, Oversight Board (Facebook)

Lofred Madzou, World Economic Forum

Richard Wingfield, Global Partners Digital

Rossana Ducato, University of Aberdeen and UC Louvain

Catalina Goanta, Maastricht University

Rolf H. Weber, University of Zurich

Chris Marsden, University of Sussex

Giovanni De Gregorio, Milano Bicocca University

Paddy Leerseen, University of Amsterdam

Enguerrand Marique, UC Louvain & University of Radboud-Nijmegen

Yasmin Curzi, FGV

Ivar Hartmann, FGV

7. Reflection to Gender Issues:

Women were well represented at the table and there were remarks about gender issues regarding platform governance.

8. Session Outputs:

The first consolidated draft of the Glossary on Platform Law and Policy – a guide on key terms related to platform governance for policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders alike – was presented as an output.

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IGF 2020 Platform Regulations: Towards A Common Vocabulary

Information