Online regulation¶
Online regulation refers to the set of policies, laws, and arrangements through which governments and international bodies seek to govern conduct and content on digital platforms and the internet.
Regulatory approaches¶
Command-and-control: Traditional legal regulation with government enforcement
Self-regulation: Industry self-governance with limited government involvement
Soft law: Non-binding principles, guidelines, and best practices
Multi-stakeholder arrangements: Collaborative governance involving states, platforms, civil society, and experts
Structural regulation: Design-level interventions addressing platform architecture rather than content
Key regulatory initiatives¶
- Christchurch Call: Non-binding commitment by governments and platforms to address terrorist content online
- EU Code of Practice on Disinformation: Voluntary industry framework for addressing false information
- Facebook Oversight Board: Independent body reviewing Facebook's content decisions
- GDPR: EU's comprehensive data protection regulation affecting all digital platforms
Key papers¶
- The platform governance triangle: conceptualising the informal regulation of online content — examines how informal regulatory arrangements structure platform governance across Europe