Making sense of our connected world
Cards on the table: Making sense of the Digital Services Act
This article revisits the origins and core mechanisms of the Digital Services Act and asks what lessons they hold for the upcoming review process.
Why data protection doesn’t protect data, but people
This article explains why “data protection” is something of a misnomer, and why the main responsibility for making it work doesn’t rest with users alone.
Can AI strengthen democracy? A data collection on AI projects aiming to serve democratic processes
This article introduces a dataset of 98 AI projects claiming to serve democracy, built to help researchers test these claims.
Platform Governance
What are the rules, regulations, and framework within which digital platforms such as social networks or online marketplaces in our society are managed. These ecosystems the everyday exchange of information, goods and services. As integral part of our modern communication, they exert a profound impact on public discourse and economic processes. We ask how entrepreneurial goals, individual rights and societal values can be harmonised in these online communication spaces.
Between accusations of censorship and platform power: What the Digital Services Act actually regulates
The DSA is increasingly attacked as “censorship law”. This article argues: Its core purpose is to protect freedom of expression online.
Tick-box democracy: What a polling booth reveals about our personal beliefs
We invited Berliners to share their feelings and opinions about democracy in Germany. Find the results here.
Prompt to perform? Sustainable talent management in the age of generative AI
What impact will generative AI have on talent pipelines? How must companies rethink their talent management?
AI between climate change and climate protection
How do climate change and artificial intelligence interact? How AI can help in the fight against climate change?
Digital by design, not by default: Resilience in higher education
What does resilience in higher education look like? A comparison of two models from Germany and Portugal shows: there is no single formula.
Algorithms under scrunity: AI observatories as democratic infrastructure
Algorithms have a profound impact on people’s lives. This article explores why AI observatories are essential for democratic governance.
Forget the “killing machine”: why AI is a question of responsibility, not apocalypse
The authors challenge the metaphor of artificial intelligence as a “killing machine” that will one day surpass its human creators.
The bot that bit back: AI agents, defamation and the digital construction of identity
A real case of an AI agent publishing a smear piece raises new legal questions about responsibility and digital identity.
The Human in the Loop in automated credit lending – Human expertise for greater fairness
How fair is automated credit lending? Where is human expertise essential?
Impactful by design: For digital entrepreneurs driven to create positive societal impact
How impact entrepreneurs can shape digital innovation to build technologies that create meaningful and lasting societal change.
Identifying bias, taking responsibility: Critical perspectives on AI and data quality in higher education
AI is changing higher education. This article explores the risks of bias and why we need a critical approach.
Who spreads disinformation, where, for what purpose, and to what extent?
How much disinformation do German politicians and parties actually spread? On which platforms and to what ends? Two new studies provide systematic answers.
Inside content moderation: Humans, machines and invisible work
Content moderation combines human labour and algorithmic systems, exposing global inequalities in who controls what we see online.
Beyond Big Tech: National strategies for platform alternatives
China, Russia and India are building national platform alternatives to reduce their dependence on Big Tech. What can Europe learn from their strategies?
Counting without accountability? An analysis of the DSA’s transparency reports
Are the DSA’s transparency reports really holding platforms accountable? A critical analyses of reports from major platforms reveals gaps and raises doubts.
Emotionless competition at work: When trust in Artificial Intelligence falters
Emotionless competition with AI harms workplace trust. When employees feel outperformed by machines, confidence in their skills and the technology declines.
Defending Europe’s disinformation researchers
Disinformation researchers in Europe face lawsuits, harassment & smear campaigns. What is behind these attacks? How should the EU respond?
Debunking assumptions about disinformation: Rethinking what we think we know
Exploring definitions, algorithmic amplification, and detection, this article challenges assumptions about disinformation and calls for stronger research evidence.
