Workshop on the regulation of social media platforms

2021-05-13

On 5 May 2021, the Information Society Research Institute of the University of Public Service organised an online workshop to discuss the manuscript “The regulation of social media platforms in Hungary” by András Koltay.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the regulation of social media platforms (such as Facebook) in Hungary, and it covers various dilemmas that may arise in the context of modernisation (or the lack thereof) by the platform. Matters related to the limitation of free speech, censorship, and fake news are also covered in the paper.

The opening remarks of András Koltay were followed by a lively exchange of views regarding the subject matters at hand.The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the regulation of social media platforms (such as Facebook) in Hungary, and it covers various dilemmas that may arise in the context of modernisation (or the lack thereof) by the platform. Matters related to the limitation of free speech, censorship, and fake news are also covered in the paper.

The opening remarks of András Koltay were followed by a lively exchange of views regarding the subject matters at hand.

In the context of “state action”, a doctrine mentioned in the paper, associate professor Bernát Török pointed out that state action as a typical US doctrine is not applicable in European legal systems that clearly recognise the horizontal effect of fundamental rights concerning certain matters. With regard to scaremongering, senior research fellow Zsolt Ződi emphasised that the relationship between fake news and the pandemic is well worth of further study, considering the changes brought about by the health situation concerning the rules on disseminating harmful information.

As for algorithmic content filtering, senior researcher Pál Vadász pointed out that the maturity level of such applications does not allow them to filter out all harmful content in a satisfactory manner. He also added that the issue of deep fakes should be subject to further study, as it seems likely that their use will move well beyond the dissemination of false information.

Research fellow András Pünkösty pointed out the significance of consumer protection and competition rules, in particular antitrust regulations, referring to the practices of the German Bundeskartellamt. He suggested that, in addition to media regulation, consumer protection and competition rules may also provide users with efficient protection in certain situations.

Research professor Attila Menyhárd noted during the workshop that consumer protection and competition rules should not be considered a silver bullet for all problems, as political content on and the removal of accounts from social media platforms are matters that fall outside the scope of consumer protection typically.

Research fellow Péter Lábody approached the issue of regulating social media platforms from a copyright perspective. With regard to the paper, he pointed out that the new copyright directive also has an impact on media pluralism and it strengthens the positions of authors.

Finally, senior research fellow Árpád Rab pointed out a trend in the context of regulating platforms that views challenging the role of government regulation seem to be gaining momentum, and that such a trend raises significant questions.