2019:Advocacy/It’s the Platforms, stupid! - Free Knowledge advocacy in times of platform regulation

Advocacy/It’s the Platforms, stupid! - Free Knowledge advocacy in times of platform regulation

Title

It’s the Platforms, stupid! - Free Knowledge advocacy in times of platform regulation

Description

Platform regulation is all the rage for politicians at the moment, when a political issue is in any way related to the internet. The European Union kicked off this trend around privacy and copyright, and is far from finished with exploring new regulatory territory. This seems to provide a controversial inspiration for other regions and for governments of even the most autocratic type and dictators alike. Wikimedia projects are – at least content-wise – always based on some kind of internet platform, and are thus necessarily part of the discussion, even if they are not always the main target of regulation or sometimes even expressly exempt from it.

In this session we first want to explore what the implications of platform regulation can be for Wikimedia projects big and small. The notion of “content moderation” for example often implies requirements to use automated systems and filters in order to be compliant. How far can this impact out projects? What is acceptable for u s, also regarding the open paradigm and its being based on freedom of expression? The Wikimedia Foundation has a standing position on intermediary liability, but (how) do we need to expand on that, maybe regionally and locally?

Secondly we want to look at the prospects of engaging with the ongoing political platform regulation debates. What messages can be successful where? What are the pitfalls for openness advocates around platform regulation as a topic?

Relationship to the theme

This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner:

Platform regulation and Wikimedia's role in it relates to all UN SDGs that require information and knowledge to be openly accessible (1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 16 and 17).

Session outcomes

At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved:

• Attendees will have an overview of the current developments of platform regulation policy making in various regions, and about things already foreseeable to become important in the coming years.
• Some features of a commons position of Wikimedia groups and entities will have emerged as a result of the discussion.
• A useful collection of Dos and Don’ts will have been drafted for people to take home for writing their own playbooks on the topic.

Session leader(s)

• Lilli Iliev (WMDE)
• John Weitzmann (WMDE)

Usernames

• Lilli Iliev (WMDE)
• John Weitzmann (WMDE)

Affiliation/country (if any)

• Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. (German Chapter)

E-mail contact (optional)

• lilli.iliev@wikimedia.de
• john.weitzmann@wikimedia.de

Session type

Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:

• Workshop to identify and try to solve problem

Requirements

The session will work best with these conditions:

• Room:

medium classroom should suffice

• Audience:

20 - 30 probably

• Recording:

recording should be possible, although discussion / workshop part might be a bit tricky; publication under CC BY 4.0 or later is fine :)