The Future Free Speech are invting you to morning webinar on freedom of expression and privacy on social media.
The webinar will take place on Friday, April 21st, from 9:00 to 10:30 am (CEST) online.
Please register for online participation
Social media platforms have transformed the dynamics of freedom of expression and freedom of information understood as the right to seek, receive, and impart information according to human rights law.
Journalism is impacted by the presence and intermediation of large technological companies, since journalists and different types of media entities use social media both as a publishing/distribution platform and as a source of information to perform their activities. Social media may also provide a platform for those who engage in unprofessional and unethical practices, as well as other malicious actors disseminating illegal or harmful content, including content that might negatively affect the right to privacy. All these aspects have significant ethical and legal implications.
What happens in the social media space has an impact on the formation of public opinion. This brings to this new territory already existing media regulation and self-regulation debates on matters including ethical standards, use of sources, respect for privacy and data protection, among many others.
Freedom of expression and privacy may come in conflict on any platform, including the online space. Conflicts between the two rights have been addressed numerous times in the case law of the ECtHR, which has developed an elaborate jurisprudence focusing on whether the domestic authorities struck a fair balance between the two rights.
Speakers
Joan Barata | Senior Legal Fellow | The Future of Free Speech
Joan Barata works on freedom of expression, media regulation, and intermediary liability issues. He is a Senior Fellow at Justitias Future Free Speech project. He is a Fellow of the Program on Platform Regulation at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center. He has published a large number of articles and books on these subjects, both in academic and popular press. His work has taken him in most regions of the world, and he is regularly involved in projects with international organizations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he was the principal advisor to the Representative on Media Freedom. Joan Barata also has experience as a regulator, as he held the position of Secretary General of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia in Spain and was member of the Permanent Secretariat of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities.
Gavin Phillipson | Professor of Public Law and Human Rights |the University of Bristol
Gavin Phillipson is Professor of Public Law and Human Rights at the University of Bristol, UK and currently Visiting Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford. He has published widely on UK, European and comparative free speech and privacy law in top law journals in the UK, Australia, Canada and the US and is co-author of the leading text Media Freedom under the Human Rights Act (2006, OUP), with Fenwick. His writing seeks to apply the philosophical rationales underpinning freedom of speech to a range of legal problems, including the clash with privacy, data protection and reputational rights, the limits of public protest, and the problems of hate speech and ‘glorification of terrorism’. His work has been cited in judgments by the High Court, Court of Appeal, former House of Lords and Supreme Court in the UK, by the New Zealand Court of Appeal, Law Commission in its reports on hate crime and by the Media Lawyer’s Association’s intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the leading speech-privacy decision of Von Hannover v Germany (no 2) (2012). His evidence on free speech issues has been cited by the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions and Joint Committee on Human Rights. He was the academic member of the Ministry of Justice Working Group on Libel (2010), drafted parts of its report and his evidence on the Defamation Bill to the Joint Committee on Human Rights was heavily cited in the Committee’s Report (Dec 2012) and influenced its conclusions.
Natalie Alkiviadou | PhD | The Future of Free Speech
Natalie Alkiviadou is a PhD holder (Law) from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research interests include freedom of expression, the far-right, hate speech, hate crime, and non-discrimination. She has authored three monographs and published in several peer-reviewed journals. Natalie has over ten years of experience in working with civil society, educators, and public servants on human rights education. She has participated in European actions such as the High-Level Group on Combatting Racism, Xenophobia and Other Forms of Intolerance. Additionally, she has been a country researcher for the 2019 European Network against Racism report on Hate Crime and the 2022 report on structural racism. Natalie has also drafted handbooks, strategy papers, and shadow reports for various projects funded by organizations such as the Anna Lindh Foundation, the European Commission, and the European Youth Foundation, on themes such as hate speech. Finally, Natalie is an international Fellow (2022/23) of the ISLC – Information Society Law Centre of the Università degli Studi di Milano.
Oreste Pollicino | Professor of Constitutional Law | Bocconi University
Professor of Constitutional Law in Bocconi. Teach the courses on GDPR, Media Law, Internet Law and the Director of the LLM in Law of Internet Technologies in Bocconi University. Oreste is Honest Broker appointed by the European Commission for the negotiation on the ‘European code of practice on disinformation’; Member of the Executive Board, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Vienna; Board Member of the Digital Library, Ministry of Culture; Member of the European Commission Sounding Board of the Multistakeholder in the fight against online disinformation; Participant to the Conseil of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI); Italian member of the OECD Global Partneship on Artificial Intelligence.
Giovanni De Gregorio | Professor | Católica Global School of Law
Giovanni De Gregorio is a professor of Law and Technology at Católica Global School of Law and Católica Lisbon School of Law. His research interests include constitutional law, human rights, freedom of expression, privacy, and data protection law. He has authored several publications, including the monograph “Digital Constitutionalism in Europe,” and edited books such as “Constitutional Challenges in the Algorithmic Society” and “Blockchain and Public Law: Global Challenges in the Era of Decentralisation.” Giovanni has received academic awards and is a member of various global academic and policy networks, including the Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibilities and the Internet and Jurisdiction Policy Network.