ITeG lecture series: "Parliaments for the platforms? The limits and potentials of democracy and self-determination on digital services."

In the ITeG lecture series "Digital society - a design task" on 21 December 2022, Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann will provide insights on the topic "Parliaments for the platforms? The limits and potential of democracy and self-determination on digital services".

Matthias C. Kettemann is Professor of Innovation, Theory and Philosophy of Law at the Institute for Theory and Future of Law at the University of Innsbruck. He is also Research Program Director and Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute, Hamburg; Research Group Leader and Research Project Leader at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin; Head of Section at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law; and Member of the Board and Research Group Leader at the Sustainable Computing Lab, Vienna University of Economics and Business. Prof. Kettemann is also an associated researcher at the Hamburg branch of the Research Institute for Social Cohesion, an associated researcher and convener of the Frankfurt Internet Colloquium at the research network "The Formation of Normative Orders" at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and an external associated member of the research network "Human Factor in Digital Transformation" (HFDT) at Karl-Franzens-University Graz.

Summary of his presentation:

Platforms set rules, platforms enforce these rules (including through algorithmic systems) and platforms sit in judgment over the application of these rules. However, their power is generally not subject to checks and balances. How can this seemingly pre-modern disposition of rights and obligations be legitimized? Ways are beginning to emerge to compensate for the legitimacy deficits of the online order. These can either amount to increasing the influence of civil society on platform governance through transparency, consultation and participation. The other approach attempts to provide an answer based on the rule of law and to subject platform governance to the same principles of the rule of law. Against this background, the article analyses recent "parliamentarization tendencies" of platform operations: A large social network has set up an oversight board to help with content decisions and algorithmic recommendations. The same social network is experimenting with deliberative processes on a large scale. A games label is experimenting with player councils to help programmers make exciting game design decisions. The advisory board of German public television wants to set up a citizens' committee to have more influence on program decisions; and the world's largest online knowledge platform has been letting users (and user editors) decide on content conflicts since it was founded. Can the platforms learn democracy here?

The lectures take place online (via Zoom). You can find the link for the Zoom meeting and the meeting ID on the following website: www.uni-kassel.de/go/iteg-lectures