From 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.,
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz will speak with
Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the State Media Authority NRW, on the topic "The Future of Platform Supervision: On the Implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Germany". On
29 September, Wolfgang Schulz will talk about the same topic with
Dr. Wilhelm Eschweiler, Vice President of the Federal Network Agency.
Moderation:
Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann
The talks will be streamed live via the YouTube channel of
TIDE Hamburg. Viewers can participate in the discussion using the YouTube chat and
Slido.
The event is part of the high-profile discussion series "Insights & Power", hosted by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz and Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann as part of the
Private Ordering Observatory
The Future of Platform Supervision: On the Implementation of the DSA in Germany
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is making great strides towards coming into force. The EU Parliament has just given its approval. Although it will still take until 2024 for the Digital Services Act to come into force, national implementation has already begun. The key question is: Who should take on the central role of digital services coordinator in Germany? This new role requires competence in media law, data protection law, consumer law and network law. Do we need a new authority? Should the tasks be distributed? Do we need completely new supervisory structures? Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz will discuss these and other questions concerning the national implementation of the DSA with Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the State Media Authority NRW, on 22 September and with Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency, on 29 September.
About Tobias Schmid
Dr. Tobias Schmid is Director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LFM NRW), European Commissioner of the Conference of Directors of the State Media Authorities (DLM) and board member of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA). Since 1 April 2021, he has also been a member of the Committee of Experts on Communication and Information of the German Commission for UNESCO. Tobias Schmid was Chair of ERGA from 2020 to 2022. He was Head of Media Policy at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland from 2005 to 2016 and Executive Vice President Governmental Affairs at the RTL Group from September 2010 to December 2016. In addition, the doctor of law was also involved in the Association of Private Broadcasting and Telemedia (today: VAUNET), from November 2012 to September 2016 as chairman of the board.
Discussion Series: "Insights & Power: Internet Scientists Meet Platform Decision-Makers"
A key challenge for good platform governance is the existence of knowledge asymmetries between governance actors. Platforms, academics, civil society and regulators all know different things and have different perspectives on key elements such as socio-technical platform architectures, incentive structures, standard-setting systems, algorithmic tools and user behaviour. Given the growing body of research on how platforms develop rules and how public values should be integrated into private orders, three Kantian questions arise for platform governance research and practice:
- What can scholars know?
- What should platforms do?
- What can governments hope to do?
In the opening discussion of the event series, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz talked with Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, about the topic: "
Great Expectations: What Research Expects from Platforms and Platforms from Research". Afterwards, he spoke with Renate Nicolay, Head of Cabinet of EU Commission Vice-President Vĕra Jourová, on the topic of "
Globalizing the European Media Order: The Brussels Effect in Times of Crisis".
"Insights & Power: Internet Scientists Meet Platform Decision-Makers" is a series of workshops and public events where leading internet scientists will meet with platform leaders. Together they will explore the question of what actionable knowledge is essential for impact-oriented platform research, how knowledge can be transferred to platforms and regulators, and how cross-disciplinary, international platform research can be successfully funded and conducted.
The series of talks is organised by the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI), the
Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the
Global Network for Internet and Society Research Centres (NoC), which brings more than 100 research centres on the Internet and society together. The HBI has recently established a
Private Ordering Observatory, a
Digital Disinformation Hub and a
Social Media Observatory. The HIIG has recently established the Platform Governance Archive.
