With Stefania di Stefano, postdoctoral researcher at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM).

In recent years, the growing power and importance of social media platforms has prompted an interest in content moderation practices and in their human rights implications. This interest is not confined to attempts to regulate the online space (either at the national, regional, or international level), but it is also evidenced by the increasing number of documents produced by UN human rights bodies that engage, either directly or indirectly, with content moderation issues: drawing from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures or the Human Rights Council are producing guidance for social media platforms on developing a human rights-based approach to content moderation. 

With the human rights dimension of content moderation becoming more central in these debates, social media platforms have committed to human rights standards through corporate human rights policies and/or the creation of oversight mechanisms. The most notable example is without doubt the creation of the Meta Oversight Board, which deliberates on content moderation issues by applying not only Meta’s content policies, but international human rights law (IHRL). 

This seminar will illustrate how actors such as UN human rights bodies, business enterprises such as Meta, and independent mechanisms such as the Oversight Board, in engaging with and interpreting the normative content of the UNGPs in the context of content moderation, have pushed for the development of norms and practices that go beyond the content initially envisaged by the UNGPs themselves and have affirmed themselves as relevant participants in international law-making processes. The seminar will specifically delve into the role of mechanisms such as the Oversight Board for translating the application of international human rights law in the context of content moderation, exemplifying the challenges that arise when moderating content in the context of non-international armed conflicts and involving organisations designated as terrorist groups. 

Stefania Di Stefano is a postdoctoral researcher at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), where she works on a research project focusing on the regulation of online content moderation. Her current research is specifically focused on the implementation of the EU Digital Services Act and its effectiveness in protecting fundamental rights. Her doctoral research examined the role of international human rights law in regulating the exercise of freedom of expression on social media platforms.
She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Riga Graduate School of Law and, since 2022, she has served as Co-convenor of the ESIL Interest Group on International Law and Technology.
She holds a PhD in International Law (2025) and master's degree in International Law from the Graduate Institute (2018) and an LLB (Hons) in Law and European Legal Studies from the University of Southampton (2016). In 2019, she was awarded the Diploma in Human Rights Law by the European University Institute.

In-person event.