You recently received an ACES Research Priority Area grant for research support for your project: Injured on the Internet: Europe's role in the removal and regulation of harmful content. What is the project about and what will you be studying?

It is an interdisciplinary project that focuses on access to justice and content moderation in the European context. We look at the experiences and needs of people who are directly and personally confronted with harmful online content, such as hate speech or the publication of private information or images without consent. What types of content do they encounter, how do they perceive the obstacles they face when they want to contest it, and why is it so difficult to overcome those obstacles in practice? There is an infamous case in the Netherlands about revenge porn, where the victim had to go to court against Facebook to find out who had posted the video. Before it was taken offline, the video had already spread to other phones and websites, which shows the need for speed. Victims often fail to have content removed, even if it is clearly unlawful. We want to better understand how and why this happens.

How does this project relate to current events?

The project is connected to the current debate on platform regulation in the Digital Services Act (DSA). We work closely together with the DSA Observatory at the Amsterdam Law School; the Council of the EU has just reached agreement on the pending legislative proposal.Tackling harmful online content is seen as a pressing social issue that poses a major challenge to the civil justice system as well. There is a gap in empirical (qualitative and quantitative) data on the divergent perspectives of people when it comes to various routes for the removal of such content. We combine a critical legal analysis of the role and responsibilities of the actors involved – notably dominant social media platforms – with a social and behavioral approach. The project encompasses both a survey, focus groups and expert interviews to gain more insight in the heterogeneity of the problem and the design of effective remedies.

How does this project advance your research in the field of private law?

My own research revolves around access to justice as an EU fundamental right and the impact of digitalization on the resolution of private law disputes. In this project we identify certain trade-offs, such as the need for speed versus the importance of ‘digital due process’. Extrajudicial mechanisms on platforms may be relatively accessible and account for the vast quantity of content shared online, but also cause tension with institutional and procedural safeguards for the protection of fundamental rights. This gives rise to important questions about balancing conflicting rights and interests, the position of platforms as stakeholders and regulators, and normative issues of ‘digital justice’.

What are some highlights/discoveries/insights that you’ve discovered with the project so far?

First, that the premise that there could be a single solution is flawed: the open and decentralized structure of the internet makes it impossible to address all problems at once. Second, framing access to justice in terms of costs, time and knowledge is too one-dimensional: factors like uncertainty about the outcome – of not only court proceedings but also the reporting process on platforms – equally hold people back. Third, the respondents to our survey seem to prioritize speed over safeguards. Interestingly, the removal of content is not the only thing they care about: they want to expose the perpetrator too. We have contacted civil society organizations to find out how the differentiated harms of vulnerable groups translate to specific access to justice needs. For instance, people who are the victim of hate speech are often the same people whose freedom of expression is limited on the internet, resulting in distrust and social injustices being reproduced in the online environment. The project has broadened my view on the complexity of the problem, which, to me, underlines the added value of interdisciplinary research.

Where can people go to find out more about the project?

We have just published a paper on SSRN and will post any news about the project on the website of the Digital Transformation of Decision-Making initiative. We aim to release a White Paper on the findings of the follow-up survey we have been able to conduct thanks to the ACES grant in the summer of 2022. If you are interested, you can listen here to a podcast made by ACES where I talk about my research.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

It is great to be part of ACT, with such a diverse group of researchers and a wide variety of research interests. There is always an opportunity to learn from colleagues who specialize in different fields and methods. For an overview, I would like to point the readers of this Newsletter to the research themes on our website. For regular updates, you can follow our LinkedIn page and, of course, the Transformative Private Law blog.