‍When? 26.3. at 2-4 pm

Where? Faculty Hall, Fabianinkatu 24, 5th floor. Here is also a Zoom link for remote participants.

Our visiting professor Eugenia Siapera (University College Dublin) will hold a lecture entitled The Extreme Public Sphere: Political and Regulatory Dilemmas as part of The New Research Culture lecture series organized by Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities. Below you will find an abstract of Siapera's lecture. Join us to listen and discuss!

The Extreme Public Sphere: Political and Regulatory Dilemmas

The rise of Alt Tech platforms and the spread of extreme and other kinds of toxic content across all digital platforms pose significant questions for digital policy and regulation. This talk will provide an overview of the extreme public sphere, including its main platforms, and defining characteristics, outlining three challenges for the digital public sphere as a whole. These include: (i) the shift towards a more conversative and exclusionary common sense; (ii) the chilling effect of toxic digital cultures; and (iii) the harm caused to specific communities. To what extent can current regulation address these challenges? The talk will begin addressing this question through unpacking the main values and principles of regulation, focusing on the Digital Services Act. It will be argued that the DSA does not and cannot adequately address these challenges because it conceives of freedom in the negative sense of removing barriers to communication; and because it views digital platforms as economic and not as political actors. The talk will conclude by providing a sketch of an alternative approach.

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