[RESEARCH PAPER] Les réseaux sociaux, entre encadrement et auto-régulation, par Florence G’SELL

The growing influence of social networks on daily life and public debate are leading governments to consider new ways to regulate their activities. Several path can be explored: increasing the platforms’ liability, reforming antitrust, or even creating specialized regulatory authorities that can, among other things, control algorithms. While the European Union has been engaged since the end of 2020 in an in-depth reform of the regulations applicable to platforms, the Biden administration’s strategy is not yet clear, in a context where some experts and activists are calling for the dismantling of large platforms and for a modification of the famous section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

This preliminary version of Florence G’sell’s Research Paper presents the possible solutions envisaged in the EU and the US.

Florence G’sell is a full professor of private law at the University of Lorraine and lecturer at Sciences Po. She holds the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair (School of Public Affairs). Her work focuses on the legal issues of the digital revolution, which she approaches from a comparative perspective, considering both European and US law. She recently directed Le Big Data et le Droit (Dalloz, 2020) and wrote Justice Numérique (Dalloz, 2021). .