From the scarcity of broadcast frequencies to the filter bubble. Regulating gatekeepers by Gàbor Polyak

1. From the scarcity of broadcast
frequencies to the filter bubble
Regulating gatekeepers
DR GÁBOR POLYÁK
UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS

2. Research project “Regulatory Issues of
the Internet Intermediaries”
A research project supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office
to reveal the social risks arising from the operation of intermediaries through the
interdisciplinary analysis of the technical, economic, cultural importance of the intermediaries,
and to make recommendations on the development of the legal environment and other policy
instruments of these services
◦ The Protection of Privacy and Data Protection Law
◦ The Regulation of the Digital Public Communication
◦ The Use of Digital Works in the Intermediaries’ Activity
◦ The Intermediaries’ Impact on the Digital Communication Market

3. Gatekeepers
Players of the media system who make decisions on the forwarding of
information, or the conditions of such forwarding.
◦ critical influence on the formation of the selection of content available to the audience
◦ influence the chances of the individual items of information and their providers to reach the
audience
Two types of gatekeepers (Helberger et al.)
◦ direct influence of journalists and editors on content
◦ possibility of disposing over the resources, intermediaries and services that are indispensable
for the flow of information

4. Regulatory significance of gatekeepers
points of regulatory intervention in favor of third parties’ interest
◦ items of information or content which are undesirable for the whole society or some groups
of society can be filtered out from the information flow
obstacles to the flow of information
◦ arbitrary decision on filtering certain information, discriminative access
◦ functioning of a plural media system

5. Internet – a public sphere without
gatekeepers?
level of the infrastructure
◦ net neutrality
level of the platforms
◦ intermediaries
“four horsemen of the Apocalypse”
◦ dominant position
◦ network effect
establishing of the search and ranking algorithms is a “value-based decision”
◦ opinion-forming effect

6. Personalized flow of information
relevance includes personal evaluation
excessive → “filter bubble”
tailor-made information ecosystem ↔ democratic publicity
hidden mechanism
user behaviors limit the effects of the filter bubble

7. Regulatory solutions of the gatekeepers
Transparency
Preferring certain contents
Non-discrimination
Structural measures
Strengthening of user competences

8. Transparency
visible and predictable risks
former solutions
◦ open tendering process of terrestrial frequencies
◦ disclosure of the contractual terms
◦ open standards
◦ transparency of the criteria of network management
transparency of algorithms?
◦ justified economic interests
◦ providing information on the fact of application of algorithms
◦ “benchmarks”, „maximas”

9. Preferring certain contents
contents with a special contribution to the realization of media policy goals can
be preferred by the distribution
former solutions
◦ must carry requirements
◦ quotas
◦ electronic program guides
Preferring contents by the intermediaries?
◦ no special contents providing the public interest

10. Non-discrimination
equal access conditions
former solutions
◦ fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory access to digital middleware services
◦ balanced information
◦ net neutrality: prohibition of blocking lawful contents
search neutrality?
◦ relevance of results?

11. Structural measures
significance
◦ means of reducing the constitutional risks
◦ influence the ownership structure, the market positions, as well as some of the decision-
making processes of the companies
◦ even if the behavior of the company can hardly be influenced by any regulatory measures
former solutions
◦ ex ante restriction of media concentration
◦ “program committee”
vertical integration
◦ absolute prohibition?

12. Strengthening of user competences
lack of users’ awareness
media literacy → place and role of intermediaries
opportunity to switch off personalized ranking
understanding data protection frameworks
◦ data portability
◦ privacy by design, privacy by default

13. Thank you for your attention!
polyak.gabor@pte.hu