Join us for a panel discussion about plans by the European Commission to build a regulator in charge of governing social media platforms as part of the Digital Services Act.
Under the German Presidency, the European Union has made crucial decisions that will shape the development of a European model for digital governance. As part of the Digital Services Act, the European Commission plans to build a new governance system that allows for reinforced oversight and stronger regulatory enforcement over social media platforms. What will this European governance system look like? Who will make the rules and how will they be enforced? Join us for a discussion on the challenges that social media platforms pose to democracy and the European Commission's policy responses.
Matthias Spielkamp, AlgorithmWatch, will talk about the Commission's goals in building such a regulatory agency. Thurid Hustedt, Professor of Public Administration and Management at the Hertie School, will address the challenges this entails with regards to the European governance framework. Marie-Teresa Weber, public policy manager at Facebook, will provide the perspective of Facebook regarding moving towards co-regulation and implementing the Digital Services Act.
Panel discussion
Thurid Hustedt is Professor of Public Administration and Management at the Hertie School. Her research focuses on public sector change dynamics, political-administrative relations and comparative public administration. Hustedt is the Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed journal dms – der moderne Staat (with Sylvia Veit). Previously, she was a visiting professor at the Freie Universität Berlin and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Potsdam. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Bergen and the University of Toronto. Hustedt holds a PhD and a Diploma in Public Administration from Potsdam University.
Matthias Spielkamp is co-founder and executive director of AlgorithmWatch (Theodor Heuss Medal 2018, Grimme Online Nominee 2019). He testified before committees of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the German Bundestag and other institutions on AI and automation. Matthias serves on the governing board of the German section of Reporters Without Borders and the advisory councils of Stiftung Warentest and the Whistleblower Network. He was a fellow of ZEIT Stiftung, Stiftung Mercator and the American Council on Germany. Matthias received several awards (Grimme Online Award, Lead Award, Klicksafe Award, .info Award) for the magazine iRights.info he co-founded and led as managing editor and publisher for more than ten years. He has written and edited books on the automation of society, digital journalism and Internet governance and holds master’s degrees in Journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder and in Philosophy from the Free University of Berlin.
Marie-Teresa Weber is the Public Policy Manager for Facebook in Berlin. Within her team, she is responsible for media policy and media regulation. Before joining Facebook, she worked as a lawyer in a corporate law firm, as well as the Head of Media Policy & Competition and Consumer law at Bitkom, a digital association. Marie-Teresa Weber studied law in Mainz and Geneva.
Moderator
Daniela Stockmann is Professor of Digital Governance at the Hertie School. Her current research focuses on platform regulation in the United States, China, and Europe. Her most recent project, funded by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council, explores the impact of the technological design of social media platforms on user behaviour regarding politics in China. Beyond her academic work, she has served as advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands and to German President Steinmeier during his 2018 visit to China.
