The “Communication Law and Policy” Section of the European Communications Research and Education Association (ECREA) invites abstracts for theoretical and empirical papers on the topic Media Freedom and Pluralism in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Platforms: A New Era for Media Policy/Regulation? This two-day workshop will be a unique opportunity to bring together those researchers investigating the processes of regulating media sectors under the influence of online platforms in Europe and beyond. The workshop will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 18-19 September 2025. It is hosted by the imec-SMIT research centre and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
The dominance of online platforms over media production, distribution and consumption and the pervasiveness of their big data tools have a profound impact on media sectors and on societies, in Europe as in the rest of the world. Their prioritisation systems, the way they recommend and moderate content, give them a role on the shaping of public spaces and public opinion that goes beyond what can be expected from a private (and for-profit) organization in a democracy.
More recently, AI has seen the development and democratization of various applications, in particular to generate content. They are conspicuous by their lack of transparency regarding notably the data (personal data, content, etc.) and algorithms used for such generation. In turn, this connects to long-standing issues regarding the lack of transparency in media, from ownership to finance to algorithms.
Several European countries, and in particular the European Union, have reacted to such evolutions by developing regulatory frameworks, most recently with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), in a move that tries to catch up with latest technological trends and geopolitical developments. There are concrete plans for adaptation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, for developments around the regulation of the music sector that would take audiovisual regulation as an example while taking stocks of challenges brought by the development of AI.
This workshop is dedicated to discussing the nature of such challenges and the appropriateness of policy solutions offered by the European Commission, national governments or regulatory bodies.
