Reclaiming Human Rights for Platform Governance: Proposals for Restoring Their Centrality in the Era of Risks

Agustina Del Campo, Nicolás Zara, Ramiro Alvarez-Ugarte
Proceedings of Fourth European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness, PMLR 294:265-280, 2025.

Abstract

The Digital Services Act can potentially become a tool for change toward a more rights-abiding, competitive European digital platform ecosystem. However, as it currently stands, it is prone to be misused as a powerful tool for censorship as well as a tool to displace human rights as the backbone of the rule of law in modern democracies. Its risk-based and “new governance” approach to regulation puts rights on the back burner, and, while paying lip service to them, takes them off the center stage. This is problematic, for the incentives of the regulation and the oversight and enforcement mechanisms it establishes may channel the violation of fundamental rights. This paper proposes ways to correct this in the incipient enforcement and interpretative stage of the statute. In particular, we propose to adopt a working definition for “systemic risks”, clarify and narrow the individual risks identified, interpret them in light of human rights standards; take proportionality seriously and refine oversight; allow room for transparency and accountability for the oversight mechanisms, and bring back the State as a potential source of risks to human rights and other paramount values the DSA seeks to protect.

Cite this Paper

BibTeX
@InProceedings{pmlr-v294-del-campo25a, title = {Reclaiming Human Rights for Platform Governance: Proposals for Restoring Their Centrality in the Era of Risks}, author = {Del Campo, Agustina and Zara, Nicol\'as and Alvarez-Ugarte, Ramiro}, booktitle = {Proceedings of Fourth European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness}, pages = {265--280}, year = {2025}, editor = {Weerts, Hilde and Pechenizkiy, Mykola and Allhutter, Doris and Corrêa, Ana Maria and Grote, Thomas and Liem, Cynthia}, volume = {294}, series = {Proceedings of Machine Learning Research}, month = {30 Jun--02 Jul}, publisher = {PMLR}, pdf = {https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mlresearch/v294/main/assets/del-campo25a/del-campo25a.pdf}, url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v294/del-campo25a.html}, abstract = {The Digital Services Act can potentially become a tool for change toward a more rights-abiding, competitive European digital platform ecosystem. However, as it currently stands, it is prone to be misused as a powerful tool for censorship as well as a tool to displace human rights as the backbone of the rule of law in modern democracies. Its risk-based and “new governance” approach to regulation puts rights on the back burner, and, while paying lip service to them, takes them off the center stage. This is problematic, for the incentives of the regulation and the oversight and enforcement mechanisms it establishes may channel the violation of fundamental rights. This paper proposes ways to correct this in the incipient enforcement and interpretative stage of the statute. In particular, we propose to adopt a working definition for “systemic risks”, clarify and narrow the individual risks identified, interpret them in light of human rights standards; take proportionality seriously and refine oversight; allow room for transparency and accountability for the oversight mechanisms, and bring back the State as a potential source of risks to human rights and other paramount values the DSA seeks to protect.} }
Endnote
%0 Conference Paper %T Reclaiming Human Rights for Platform Governance: Proposals for Restoring Their Centrality in the Era of Risks %A Agustina Del Campo %A Nicolás Zara %A Ramiro Alvarez-Ugarte %B Proceedings of Fourth European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness %C Proceedings of Machine Learning Research %D 2025 %E Hilde Weerts %E Mykola Pechenizkiy %E Doris Allhutter %E Ana Maria Corrêa %E Thomas Grote %E Cynthia Liem %F pmlr-v294-del-campo25a %I PMLR %P 265--280 %U https://proceedings.mlr.press/v294/del-campo25a.html %V 294 %X The Digital Services Act can potentially become a tool for change toward a more rights-abiding, competitive European digital platform ecosystem. However, as it currently stands, it is prone to be misused as a powerful tool for censorship as well as a tool to displace human rights as the backbone of the rule of law in modern democracies. Its risk-based and “new governance” approach to regulation puts rights on the back burner, and, while paying lip service to them, takes them off the center stage. This is problematic, for the incentives of the regulation and the oversight and enforcement mechanisms it establishes may channel the violation of fundamental rights. This paper proposes ways to correct this in the incipient enforcement and interpretative stage of the statute. In particular, we propose to adopt a working definition for “systemic risks”, clarify and narrow the individual risks identified, interpret them in light of human rights standards; take proportionality seriously and refine oversight; allow room for transparency and accountability for the oversight mechanisms, and bring back the State as a potential source of risks to human rights and other paramount values the DSA seeks to protect.
APA
Del Campo, A., Zara, N. & Alvarez-Ugarte, R.. (2025). Reclaiming Human Rights for Platform Governance: Proposals for Restoring Their Centrality in the Era of Risks. Proceedings of Fourth European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 294:265-280 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v294/del-campo25a.html.

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