Search Results
Search Results
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Commodification and Disruption: Theorizing Digital Capitalism
There is little disagreement that digital technologies are transforming contemporary economies and societies. However, scholars have only begun to systematically think about how digitalization – the process whereby more and more of what we say, think, and do becomes mediated by digital technologies – is both driven by and transformative of capitalism. This paper argues that when one speaks about digitalization, one cannot be silent about capitalism. It reconstructs commodification and disruption as key features of capitalist development. It then shows how three digital revolutions – the platform, (big) data, and artificial intelligence revolutions – have ushered in a new wave of commodification and disruption, giving rise to digital capitalism. Finally, it discusses the challenges commodification and disruption pose in the form of redistribution of resources, rebalancing of power, rule adaption, and market re-embedding. The paper brings together a wide range of scholarship to offer a historically and theoretically grounded framework for how to think about and study the rise of digital capitalism.
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The European Strive for Digital Sovereignty: Have We Lost Our Belief in the Global Promises of the ‘Free and Open Internet’?
Digital sovereignty is the buzzword of the hour in European digital policy debates. But what if it was something more fundamental than just a new policy principle? This short essay analyses shifts in the belief system that underlies our idea of the global Internet in order to better understand the European digital sovereignty debate within its historical and political context. For this purpose, it identifies three different types of dependency that shape today’s global digital order and explains how the perceptions of these dependencies motivate the EU’s claims for more digital self-determination. What come apparent is that the liberal imaginary of an ‘open and free Internet’ could not hold up to reality and that we are in urgent need of alternative visions for a globally interconnected world. The European digital sovereignty debate can be interpreted as the first stage in the search for such an alternative. Whether it will be able to fill the gap, remains questionable.
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Defending Informational Sovereignty by Detecting Deepfakes? Opportunities and Risks of an AI-Based Detector for Deepfakes-Based Disinformation and Illegal Activities
This paper investigates possible contributions that an AI-based detector for deepfakes could make to the challenge of responding to new forms of cyberthreats, including fraud and disinformation as a threat to democracy. The paper investigates the implications of such a tool for the emerging European discourse on digital sovereignty in a global environment. While cybersecurity and disinformation are certainly not new topics, recent technological developments relating to AI-generated deepfakes have increased the manipulative potential of video and audio-based content spread online, making it a specific but important challenge in the global and interconnected information context.
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The Emergence of Platform Regulation in the UK: An Empirical-Legal Study
Online platforms have emerged as a new kind of regulatory object. In this article, we empirically map the emergence of the field of platform regulation in one country: the United Kingdom (UK). We focus on the 18-month period between September 2018 and February 2020 when an upsurge of regulatory activism reflected increasing sensitivity to national sovereignty in the context of Brexit. Through an empirical–legal content analysis of eight official reports issued by the UK government, parliamentary committees, and regulatory agencies, we code the online harms to which regulation is being asked to respond; identify relevant subject domains of law (such as data protection and privacy, competition, education, media and broadcasting, consumer protection, tax law and financial regulation, intellectual property law, security law); and analyze the agencies referred in the reports for their centrality in the regulatory network and their regulatory powers. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of “field,” we observe the emergence of regulators with investigatory and enforcement powers that stand in mutually unstable power relations to each other as well as vis-à-vis shifting executive and legislative interventions. Online platforms appear to acquire authority to exercise state powers.
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The Politics of Risk in the Digital Services Act: A Stakeholder Mapping and Research Agenda
The EU’s 2022 Digital Services Act requires large online platforms to regularly assess and mitigate ‘systemic risks’ to various public-interest goals, including fundamental rights, civic discourse, public health and security. Drawing on social constructionist understandings of risk, this article theorizes systemic risk management under the DSA as an arena for political power and contestation, since translating its broadly-defined abstract principles into actionable risk management procedures will entail making many contestable political decisions about how online platforms should be governed. This raises the question: who will exercise power in these decision-making processes? Providing some first answers to this question, this article makes three key contributions. First, it maps the key stakeholder groups involved, and the legal and institutional mechanisms through which they can participate in DSA systemic risk management. Second, it critically analyzes the power dynamics and unequal resources that will structure stakeholder participation. Third, this stakeholder mapping provides a foundation for future research on the politics of DSA systemic risks. The article concludes with reflections on directions for future research on the political agendas, priorities and strategies that shape platform governance.
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Dark Patterns and Addictive Designs
The proliferation of digital platforms has given rise to manipulative design practices known as “dark patterns,” which exploit users’ vulnerabilities to influence behavior, leading them to make decisions against their own interests. Among these, addictive designs have emerged as a particularly concerning subset, systematically capturing and manipulating user attention to create compulsive engagement. This paper explores the concept of addictive designs as a type of dark pattern, examining their manipulative nature, impact on user autonomy, and potential harm to well-being. By analyzing the current legal framework in the European Union related to dark patterns, including the General Data Protection Regulation, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Digital Services Act, this paper identifies significant gaps in how the challenges posed by addictive designs are addressed. The paper makes three key suggestions for effectively regulating these practices and protecting users’ rights: clarifying the definition and scope of dark patterns to encompass both interface designs and algorithmic systems; recognizing the value of attention in shaping personal autonomy and considering attention rights as a distinct category of protection in digital regulations; and amending consumer protection laws to address the online manipulation of digital markets.
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Trapped in the Matrix: Algorithmic Control and Worker Dispossession in the African Platform Economy
Digital labor platforms are reshaping the work landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa, promising enhanced productivity and empowerment. Yet, this study reveals a more complex reality, particularly in Rwanda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Based on 41 in-depth interviews, it exposes how algorithmic management systems deeply erode worker autonomy, highlighting significant financial, task, and behavioral dispossession. This research, grounded in neo-Marxist and postcolonial theories, scrutinizes the nuanced limitations of autonomy and the pervasive control exerted by algorithmic management, reflecting the lived experiences of workers. The findings illuminate enduring patterns of accumulation that echo historical exploitation, maintaining asymmetric power dynamics and dependence. Despite this, the study captures the agency of workers as they navigate and resist these systemic constraints, challenging the dominant techno-optimistic narrative. It underscores the critical need for contextually informed empirical research to shape policies that champion equity and elevate marginalized voices during transformative economic shifts.
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Beyond Open Access: Open Educational Resources for Legal Clarity, Sustainability, and Digital Sovereignty in European University Alliances
Open educational resources (OER) are widely recognized for improving access to education and enabling the sharing of knowledge. However, in the context of European university alliances such as Unite!, OER offer additional, often underappreciated benefits that are crucial for cross-border collaboration and sustainable development in higher education. This paper explores three key aspects of OER that are particularly relevant to European alliances. First, OER enable the legally secure use of educational resources across national borders, addressing uncertainties about copyright laws, particularly for translations and adaptations. This ensures compliance with different legal frameworks while fostering collaboration. Second, OER support sustainability by ensuring that investments in educational materials are not limited by restrictive usage rights. This is especially critical in alliances where shared resources are central to fostering long-term cooperation and aligning with sustainability goals, a priority for Unite!. Finally, OER contribute to digital sovereignty by empowering institutions and educators to create, adapt, and share resources without relying on proprietary platforms or licenses. This coincides with European alliances’ broader strategic objective of promoting autonomy and resilience in their digital ecosystems. By highlighting these often-overlooked benefits of OER, the present research aims to broaden the perspective on their strategic importance in fostering collaboration, sustainability, and sovereignty within European university alliances.
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Democratic Oversight of Government Hacking by Intelligence Agencies: A Critical Analysis of Brazil and Germany
Regulating intelligence services is a challenge for modern societies worldwide. Their very modus operandi relies on tight secrecy protocols for the information gathered, internationally and domestically. Evolving surveillance techniques include exploiting the vulnerabilities of digital services, dealing on unregulated surveillance markets, and developing tailored tools. Theoretically, these actions aim at the public interest by, for instance, anticipating terrorist attacks or dismantling pedophilia networks. Nevertheless, they are increasingly used to surveil civil society without proper and demonstrated necessity or proportionality. Given the demand for increased transparency and accountability for intelligence agencies, especially when using hacking technologies, what institutional design and civic participation avenues for oversight may be proposed? How can (existing and yet-to-exist) institutions improve democratic external oversight activities in this realm? Through a comparison of Germany’s and Brazil’s legal frameworks and institutional ecosystems, the paper critically explores the meaning of “democratic oversight” of intelligence agencies, specifically observing oversight models for hacking operations. Looking at previous contributions by intelligence studies scholars in these countries and globally, the paper offers a critical-comparative analysis of institutional and political architectures to assess the levels of democratic participation. On this basis, it makes recommendations for both countries, which can be appropriated by external intelligence oversight bodies.
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Reclaiming (Parts of) Scholarly Communication: Resilient Publishing as a Community-Driven Effort
Community-driven open-access journals foster the idea of a biblio-diverse publishing ecosystem and challenge the prevalent commercialization of academic publishing. However, despite their importance, their existence is at risk. With little to no budget, they mostly operate on the unpaid labor of their editorial teams and the free support provided by public infrastructures. The first part of this article describes the model, key functions, and governance principles of community-driven open-access journals within the business of global academic publishing. In promoting fair, resilient, and gratis open access, they contribute to the evolution of an inclusive and biblio-diverse intellectual landscape. The article then concerns itself with the challenges that community-driven publishing faces within the system of academia and academic publishing. Emphasizing the need for more funding, engagement strategies, and wider responsibility, I close with some practical suggestions for immediate aid.
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Following the Beaten Track? A Sociology of Knowledge Perspective on Information Operations
Information operations, which are considered part of information warfare, feature prominently in contemporary debates on the quality of democracy, international relations, and the national security of highly connected democracies. However, the vectors of attack and success conditions for information warfare remain unclear, as well as the strategic motivations of malevolent actors. Alarmist voices in public debate and scholarly discourse often build their assumptions on atomistic and individualistic misconceptions of knowledge. In this paper, we introduce a perspective based on the sociology of knowledge. We utilize this framework with a mix of quantitative and qualitative text analysis methods and present a comparative study of news coverage during the 2019 European election campaigns in two countries, Germany and France. We contrast the news stream of RT (formerly Russia Today), an outlet widely perceived as a vehicle for Russian information operations, with two types of established media per case: quality press and tabloid. Results show that RT, while generally following the beaten track of public discourse, particularly emphasizes international affairs topics in its news coverage. For these subjects, we find divergent framing seeking to support Russian foreign interests in comparison with established news outlets.
