Monday, 2 June 2025
19:00
Informal Get-Together (Presse-Club)
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
Location: Baumwollbörse
08:30—09:00
Registration and Coffee.
09:00—10:00
Welcome and Keynote Conversation
Where Do We Stand, and How Did We Get Here?
Welcome Note: Nicholas John (President of AoIR, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Chair: Christian Katzenbach (ZeMKI, University of Bremen)
- Natali Helberger (University of Amsterdam)
- Tarleton Gillespie (Microsoft Research)
10:00—11:30
Panel
Tech Companies & Discoursive Work
Chair: Kate Miltner (University of Sheffield)
- Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (University of Copenhagen)
The Politics of ‘Big Tech’ - Nicolas Suzor, Lucinda Nelson (Queensland University of Technology)
Beyond ‘Toxicity’: Using Large Language Models for Power-Sensitive Automated Content Assessment - Laurens Naudts, Natali Helberger (University of Amsterdam)
Authenticity Matters: Understanding the Epistemic and Democratic Risks of Generative AI - Rebecca Scharlach (University of Bremen), CJ Reynolds (Hebrew University Jerusalem), Vasilisa Kuznetsova (University of Bremen), Christian Katzenbach (University of Bremen), Blake Hallinan (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Value Frictions: Competing Priorities in the Public and Private Governance of Generative Artificial Intelligence
11:30—11:45
Coffee Break
11:45—12:45
Panel
Trust & Safety across Domains
Chair: Daria Dergacheva (University of Bremen)
- Robert Gorwa (WZB Berlin), Clara Iglesias Keller (Weizenbaum Institute / WZB Berlin), João C. Magalhães (University of Manchester)
Varieties of Trust and Safety: An Institutionalist Perspective on Platform Governance Regimes - Yannis Theocharis (Technical University of Munich), Spyros Kosmidis (University of Oxford), Friederike Quint, Jan Zilinsky, Franziska Pradel (Technical University of Munich)
Balancing Free Speech and Safety: How Target Characteristics Shape Demand for Content Moderation - Robert Gorwa (WZB Berlin), Michael Veale (University College London)
Analytically Ambiguous: Conceptualizing Hard Technical Problems for Trust and Safety
12:45—14:15
Lunch (Markthalle)
14:15—15:45
Panel
Wicked Problems of Generative AI
Chair: Nicolas Suzor (Queensland University of Technology)
- Alex Gekker (University of Amsterdam)
Towards Hybridised Media: Governance of and through GenAI Interfaces - Kate M. Miltner (University of Sheffield), Tim Highfield (University of Warwick)
Generative AI and the Creative Industries: Bridging Governance and Opportunity? - Soorya Balendra (McGill University)
Challenges of Platform and Generative AI Governance Research in the Global South - Stefan Luca (University of Glasgow, CREATe)
Listening for GenAI across a Chorus of Podcasting Platforms - Tom Divon (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
GenAI in Digital Activism – Rethinking Palestinian Advocacy and Platform Governance
15:45—16:00
Coffee Break
16:00—17:30
Panel
Rethinking AI Governance From a Global Perspective
Chair: Dennis Redeker (University of Bremen)
- Jason Kalathas (University College Dublin)
New Governance Challenges for AI in Platforms: The Case of Adversarial Machine Learning as Co-Governance Mechanism - Bradley McNeil (McMaster University)
Power and Hegemony in Global AI Governance: A Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis of the UN’s Global Digital Compact - Vincent Obia (University of Sheffield)
Concepts and Strategies for Studying AI Regulation and Tech Governance in Africa - Adio Dinika (Distributed AI Research Institute)
Decolonizing AI: Resisting Data Colonialism and Platform Extractivism in the Global Majority
Location for the Evening: Kassenhalle im Domshof
19:30
Evening Panel
Critical Times: Power and Politics in Tech Governance
Welcome: Prof. Dr. Michal Kucera (Vice President, University of Bremen)
Moderation: Lisa-Maria Röhling
- Amélie Heldt (German Federal Chancellery)
- Thomas Poell (University of Amsterdam)
- Nicolas Suzor (Queensland University of Technology)
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
Location: Baumwollbörse
08:30—09:00
Registration and Coffee
09:00—11:00
Parallel Sessions
Panel (Sitzungssaal)
Data Acess under the Digital Services Act
Chair: Peddy Leerssen (University of Amsterdam)
Workshop (Turmzimmer)
LLMs as Tools and Objects of Research
Organizer: Rebecca Scharlach (University of Bremen)
- Thales Bertaglia, Haoyang Gui, Catalina Goanta (Utrecht University)
The Great Data Standoff: Researchers vs. Platforms under the Digital Services Act - Thales Bertaglia, Haoyang Gui (Utrecht University)
TikTok, Influencers, and the Romanian Elections: Limits of Public Data Access to Assess Systemic Risk - Jacob van de Kerkhof (Utrecht University)
Automated Transparency: A Legal and Empirical Analysis of the Digital Services Act Transparency Database - Taylor Annabell (Utrecht University)
Defining Data: Interpretation and Contestation of Data Access Terminology - Yannik Peters, Katrin Weller (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences)
Research Standard, Economic Good, Public Value? Data Quality in Times of Platform Power, Generative AI and European Regulation
- Miira Hill (University of Bremen)
LLM as Non-Human Informant - Jiahui Xing (University of Sydney)
From data barriers to insights: Algorithmically Mediated Semiotic-Discourse Analysis (AM-SDA) as a Multi-Scalar LLM-assisted Framework for AI-governed Cultural Research - Vasilisa Kuznetsova (University of Bremen)
LLMs in Algorithm Auditing - Emillie de Keulenaar (University of Groningen)
LLMs as Tools and Objects of Content Moderation - Robert Gorwa (WZB)
The AI Value Chain - Tarleton Gillespie (Microsoft Research)
A Sociology of Redteaming
11:00—11:15
Coffee Break
11:15—12:45
Parallel Panels
Beyond Content Moderation (Sitzungssaal)
Chair: Diyi Liu (University of Oxford)
Methods in AI and Platform Governance Research (Turmzimmer)
Chair: Kim Ermler (University of Bremen)
- Stefan Baack (Mozilla Foundation)
Leveraging Generative AI’s Open Source Communities: A Critical Analysis of Common Crawl - Paddy Leerssen (University of Amsterdam)
From Murdoch to Musk: Social Media Ownership and the Political Economy of Platform Content Moderation - Emillie de Keulenaar (University of Groningen)
Content Moderation, from Adjudication to Consensus-buildling - Vanessa Richter (University of Bremen), Thomas Poell (University of Amsterdam)
Platform Imaginaries and Their Politics
- Guy Banim (College of Europe/Build Up), Helena Puig Larrauri (Build Up)
The Polarization Footprint, a Framework to Measure Societal Divides on Social Media and Advocate for Algorithmic Change - Kaushar Mahetaji, David Nieborg
(University of Toronto)
Corporate Mapping as Method: A Holistic Systematic Approach to Study Platform Companies and AI - Jeanette D’Arcy (University of Liverpool), Jessica Crosby , Rachel Franklin (Newcastle University), Simeon Yates , Elena Musi (University of Liverpool)
Researcher Access to Data: Insights from the Smart Data UK Strategic Advice Team - Yarden Skop, Marcus Burkhardt (University of Paderborn)
Personal Data Governance in the European Market: Repurposing Article 15 GDPR as a Research Tool
Disinformation in Transition (Sitzungssaal)
Chair: Oliver Marsh (AlgorithmWatch)
Current Approaches to
Platform Governance (Turmzimmer)
Chair: Charlotte Spencer-Smith (University of Klagenfurt)
- Thales Lelo (Federal University of Minas Gerais)
Critical Challenges in Regulating Generative AI’s Use in Disinformation Campaigns - Rita Gsenger (Weizenbaum Institute/Freie Universität Berlin)
Governing AI-generated Content and Misinformation on Online Platforms: The Influence and Effect of the Digital Services Act - Manuel Tonneau , Dylan Thurgood , Diyi Liu (University of Oxford), Niyati Malhotra (World Bank), Ralph Schroeder , Scott A. Hale (University of Oxford), Samuel Fraiberger , Victor Orozco-Olvera (World Bank), Manoel Horta Ribeiro (Princeton University), Paul Röttger (Bocconi University)
Assessing Global Hate Speech Moderation on Twitter - Christian Katzenbach, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Daria Dergacheva, Adrian Kopps, Andrea Roca (University of Bremen)
The Emergence of Misinformation in Platform Governance: A Longitudinal Study of Social Media Platforms’ Misinformation Policies
- Mia Nahrgang , Nils B. Weidmann (University of Konstanz), Friederike Quint (Technical University of Munich), Sebastian Nagel (University of Konstanz), Yannis Theocharis (Technical University of Munich), Margaret E. Roberts (University of California, San Diego)
Written for Lawyers or Users? Mapping the Complexity of Community Guidelines - Kyooeun Jang (University of Southern California)
Mediating AI’s Possibilities and Risks: The Role of Trust and Safety Intermediaries in the Shaping of Online Child Safety Frameworks - Esteban Morales (University of Groningen, NL), Ludmila Lupinacci (University of Leeds, UK)
Don’t be a d1*k: Vibe-Check as Governance of Platformized Violence - Simran Agarwal (Sorbonne Paris Nord University, France), Diyi Liu (University of Oxford)
Theorising Governance Through Platforms: Recentring the Role of the States
15:45—16:00
Coffee Break
16:00—17:00
Parallel Panels
Alternative Platforms – The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (Sitzungssaal)
Chair: Esteban Morales (University of Groningen)
Digital Services Act in Practice (Turmzimmer)
Chair: Taylor Annabell (Utrecht University)
- Paloma Viejo Otero, Rebecca Scharlach (University of Bremen)
‘We do not marshal your feed’: How Alt Tech Platforms (Re)Conceptualise Safety - Bjorn Beijnon (University of Amsterdam)
From Data Subjects to Digital Citizens: The Fediverse as a Model for Civic-Oriented Platform Governance and Algorithmic Resistance - Mathilde Sanders (Utrecht University)
Democratizing the Ownership of Public Decentralized Social Media Platforms
- Clément Le Ludec, Benjamin Loveluck (CERSA/ Université Paris Panthéon Assas)
A Shared Oversight on the DSA - John Albert (University of Amsterdam) Taking Stock of Early Auditing Practices under the DSA
- Elizabeth Farries, Eugenia Siapera (University College Dublin)
Enforcing the Digital Services Act: Positioning and Powerflows Between Stakeholders
17:15—18:15
Concluding Plenary Panel (Sitzungssaal)
Where Do We Go From Here?
Chair: Rebecca Scharlach (University of Bremen)
- Sarah T. Roberts (UCLA)
- Jillian York (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
- Elinor Carmi (City St George’s, University of London)
- Arnika Zinke (The Greens/EFA, European Parliament)
20:00
Informal Farewell, Karaoke (Presse-Club)
Registration
Please register under the following link to participate in the Symposium. Registration fees are tiered and relatively low. At the registration site, you can also become a member of AoIR. The fees are: AoIR Member Student: €10.00; Student Non-member: €20.00; AoIR Member Professional & Post-Doc: €25.00; Professional & Post-Doc Non-member: €50.00.