Online Regulations Governing Digital Spaces: Examining a Rapidly Expanding Governance Area
In a significant move towards a more sustainable and responsible digital landscape, a new policy brief titled "The Emergence of Platform Regulation in the UK: an Empirical-Legal Study" has been published by CREATe, a research centre based at the University of Glasgow. The study, led by Research Associate Ula Furgal and Professors Philip Schlesinger and Martin Kretschmer, offers insights into the UK's regulatory adaptation to digital platforms, with a focus on controlling online harms and expanding competition law frameworks to digital market realities.
The study centres on the UK's regulatory frameworks, particularly the Online Safety Act (OSA) and competition law, and how they address online harms and market competition in the digital platform context. It explores the evolving regulatory landscape, focusing on significant online harms such as misinformation, illegal content (including terrorism and child sexual abuse materials), fraudulent advertising, and emerging threats posed by AI-facilitated manipulation.
The UK digital regulator, Ofcom, now oversees the implementation of OSA enforcement. This involves applying risk assessments and mandating compliance with codes of practice across multiple categories of illegal content, with special duties imposed on platforms with significant societal reach, classified in tiered categories, facing the most stringent obligations.
Platforms are required to enhance transparency, provide user empowerment tools, maintain clear content moderation policies, and offer avenues for redress in cases of content decisions. The regulatory focus also encompasses competition law adapted for digital markets where privacy and user data are key competitive parameters. The UK courts and competition authorities acknowledge that the leveraging of dominant platform power, including its impact on consumer privacy, may amount to an abuse of dominance potentially subject to collective actions or regulatory scrutiny.
The study also discusses a diverse range of regulatory tools and policy levers, and maps the digital platform regulatory landscape in the UK, creating a taxonomy of 80 distinct online harms. Notably, US multinationals Google and Facebook are prominent in the official literature, with these dominant global platforms understood to be primary targets of UK platform regulation given their massive user reach, role in content distribution, and data processing capabilities.
Other policy briefs published by CREATe include "Three ways to support growth in the creative industries," which presents three ways to foster growth in the creative industries, and "Authors' Earnings in the UK," which sets out areas for possible policy action in the book publishing sector. The policy brief "Audiences and Workforce in Arts Culture and Heritage" provides a comprehensive analysis of audiences using census data, while "Creative industries innovation in seaside resorts and country towns" is based on a PEC Discussion Paper.
The policy briefings are essential for policymakers, regulators, and industry representatives, offering valuable insights into the complex world of digital platform regulation. The study can be downloaded from the CREATe website, and it's clear that the UK is taking decisive steps towards creating a more sustainable and responsible digital platform sector.
Meanwhile, in the theatre sector, another policy brief titled "Transitioning to Sustainable Production across the UK Theatre Sector" outlines recommendations for more sustainable theatre production, aiming to reduce the sector's carbon footprint and contribute to the UK's net-zero goals.
[1] Furgal, U., Schlesinger, P., & Kretschmer, M. (2022). The Emergence of Platform Regulation in the UK: an Empirical-Legal Study. Retrieved from https://www.create.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/The-Emergence-of-Platform-Regulation-in-the-UK-an-Empirical-Legal-Study.pdf [2] Furgal, U., Schlesinger, P., & Kretschmer, M. (2022). The Emergence of Platform Regulation in the UK: an Empirical-Legal Study - Discussion Paper. Retrieved from https://www.create.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/The-Emergence-of-Platform-Regulation-in-the-UK-an-Empirical-Legal-Study-Discussion-Paper.pdf [3] Furgal, U., Schlesinger, P., & Kretschmer, M. (2022). The Emergence of Platform Regulation in the UK: an Empirical-Legal Study - Executive Summary. Retrieved from https://www.create.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/The-Emergence-of-Platform-Regulation-in-the-UK-an-Empirical-Legal-Study-Executive-Summary.pdf
- The new policy brief, "The Emergence of Platform Regulation in the UK: an Empirical-Legal Study," offers strategic insights into the UK's adaptation of digital platforms, focusing on policy and analysis of online harms.
- The study, published by CREATe, delves into various skills required for effective regulation, such as data analysis and legal strategy.
- In the UK, the talent to drive this regulatory innovation is evident in Research Associate Ula Furgal and Professors Philip Schlesinger and Martin Kretschmer, who led the study.
- The research center, CREATe, based at the University of Glasgow, contributes to internationalisation of policy making in digital fields, sharing its findings with other industries and clusters worldwide.
- The study maps out the complexities of the digital platform landscape, identifying over 80 distinct online harms, including misinformation, fraudulent advertising, and AI-facilitated manipulation.
- The policy brief sheds light on the role of dominant platforms, such as Google and Facebook, in the UK's efforts to regulate digital industries, due to their significant reach and data processing capabilities.
- The UK's policy actions towards a more sustainable and responsible digital platform sector are bolstered by the use of research, analysis, and innovation in areas like finance and technology.
- CREATe's other policy briefs address various aspects of the creative industry, such as fostering growth in the creative industries, examining audiences' data in arts, culture, and heritage, and promoting innovation in seaside resorts and country towns.
- The policy briefs are invaluable resources for policymakers, regulators, and industry representatives, offering comprehensive understanding and guidance on regulatory strategies.
- In addition to digital platform regulation, the theatre sector is also taking steps towards sustainability with a policy brief titled "Transitioning to Sustainable Production across the UK Theatre Sector," outlining recommendations aimed at reducing the sector's carbon footprint and contributing to the UK's net-zero goals.
