Accountability and platforms' governance: the case of online prominence of public service media content
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Public discourse has moved online, enabled by platforms, which in the context of information and media content have become an essential source, access point and key distributor of information.Public Service Media (PSM) -the 'basic information service provider' with a special mandate from the state -increasingly relies on platforms under the universality principle to reach out and interact with the broadest range of their audiences.However, control over PSM content dissemination and audience engagement is primarily determined by the private interest-ruled platforms via algorithmic recommendation systems (content curation) and according to their terms and conditions (community standards).This paper addresses the necessity and possibilities of safeguards for PSM content delivery on digital online platforms as an issue of media pluralism.Actual or potential policy interventions for the preferential treatment of public value content, aka due prominence online, were studied through the analytical lens of accountability in its interaction with platforms and PSM performance.Finally, the analyses on the appropriateness of the current accountability regimes for achieving pluralism objectives laid out recommendations for future policy for public-interest-driven platform governance.Issue 4 European legal and policy standards Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) guarantees, within the European legal context, the guiding principles and the accompanying standards on prioritisation and prominence enshrined by the right to freedom of expression and its corollaries, media freedom and pluralism.The Council of Europe, which administers the ECHR, set standards concerning prioritisation and prominence in 2021 and 2022, respectively.The 'Guidance Note on the Prioritisation of Public Interest Content Online' (CoE, 2021) recognises the implications of 'regimes of prominence' for democracy and human rights, puts forward instructions on how to make public interest content 8 Internet Policy Review 12(4) | 2023
Source: Internet Policy Review
DOI: 10.14763/2023.4.1723
Author: Krisztina Rozgonyi
Institution: Austrian Academy of Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4388023669