• Puppis Manuel

• Kanse Evert

Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or TikTok and so-called “artificial intelligence systems” are not only changing the production, distribution and use of media content, but have also triggered a structural transformation of the public sphere. While this transformation offers many opportunities for democratic societies, it also poses unprecedented challenges, such as the spread of disinformation and hate speech, the reinforcement of structural inequalities, financial difficulties for media, or the emergence of new forms of opinion power. Accordingly, democratic societies have to consider their governance options. The decision whether and how to regulate media, platforms and AI influences the conditions under which communication takes place.

In this interactive lecture we will first immerse ourselves in the governance concept in order to understand the role of states, industry, civil society and technology in shaping communication, putting a special emphasis on dynamics of power. This first part of the lecture will also touch upon methodological fundamentals of researching media and platform governance in a comparative perspective. Next, we will focus on (perceived) communication problems and related governance solutions. Based on empirical studies and documents, we will investigate how prevalent an alleged problem really is and whether existing governance contributes to its solution. The lecture will conclude with reflections on the interplay between research and policy-making.

1. You become familiar with the governance concept and different forms of social ordering, ranging from statutory regulation to technological design.
2. You gain in-depth knowledge about the opportunities and challenges of platforms and artificial intelligence for communication in the public sphere, as well as the available governance options.
3. You are able to critically assess the contribution of empirical studies and the suitability of governance for solving alleged problems.
4. You develop a proposal for a comparative governance research project.

Mandatory readings available on e-learning platform.

• presentations and discussions in class
• writing a research proposal

Course with continuous evaluation: withdrawing or unenrolling from the course will no longer be possible after the registration period (see the session calendar on the Faculty website).