Summary

The talk delves into the complexities of regulating online disinformation within the framework of human rights, with a particular focus on the right to freedom of expression and information. In an age of rapid digital transformation, the potential widespread dissemination of disinformation, especially via social media platforms, presents serious threats to democratic institutions, public trust, and social cohesion. The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) seeks to address these challenges by implementing measures to regulate harmful content, including disinformation, to safeguard public discourse and mitigate societal risks. However, the speaker raises concerns regarding the DSA’s ambiguities in defining and differentiating between (intentional) disinformation and (non-intentional) misinformation in light of the particular protection of value judgments under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The speaker argues that while regulating harmful content is crucial to protect democratic integrity, it is equally important to ensure that such regulations do not overly restrict free expression. Furthermore, the speaker emphasizes the need for clearer definitions and targeted approaches to avoid infringing on fundamental rights and stress the importance of continued research on the actual impact of false and misleading information distributed online. Ultimately, the speaker calls for a careful balancing act in regulatory frameworks like the DSA, advocating for public oversight and more precise guidelines to ensure content moderation policies do not suppress legitimate debate and value judgments, especially in the context of political discourse and elections.

Biography

Miriam Soldan is a University Assistant (prae doc) at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the University of Vienna and a researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights. She completed her legal studies at Johannes Kepler University Linz and obtained her LL.M. in Human Rights from the University of Vienna. Her research interests encompass Constitutional Law, as well as International and European Human Rights Law. In her doctoral research, she examines the relationship between digitalization and human rights, with a particular focus on the regulation and dissemination of hate speech on content-sharing and social media platforms from a human rights perspective.