Writing

  • Launch: Data Knowledge Hub

    “Online discourse has changed how we inform ourselves, what and who to trust, as well as how information is quite simply accessed. Notably on online platforms and social media, recommender systems and other design features can be gamed to fuel disinformation, hate speech, and outrage. In addition, messaging services and alternative platforms are increasingly falling…

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  • Blog: Are tech companies finally reducing their emissions?

    Tech companies share their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions more transparently now, but does this translate into action? Do they, in fact, reduce their emissions and improve their environmental impact. While things are moving, change isn’t fast enough. Here’s the tl;dr of what I found in the 2022 data: 2022 amount of million mtCO2e | change…

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  • Blog: Very Large Online Platforms pledge compliance with DSA – Researchers must put that to a test

    Since August 28, very large online platforms (VLOPs) like Instagram, TikTok and co. must comply with the new DSA requirements. Most of the 19 designated platforms and services issued (big) public announcements of their implemented changes. However, whether these hold up is a different matter entirely — as researchers Martin Degeling and Anna Semanova found…

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  • Thought Paper Series on Platform Governance

    5 papers in 5 months. Since April 2023, my colleague Charlotte Freihse and I have been working with colleagues from the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society on a monthly series of expert workshops and thought papers looking at various topics of platform governance. We developed recommendations on decentralised networks, such as the fediverse, looked…

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  • Op-Ed: Die Twitter-Alternative, die keine ist

    Anfang August 2023 kündigte Meta mit Threads eine dezentrale Alternative an, die mit dem Fediverse kompatibel sein — und den Einstieg für weniger tech-affine Nutzer:innen erleichtern soll, da die Anmeldung über Instagram erfolgt. Meine Kollegin Charlotte Freihse und ich konnten dies nicht ignorieren und haben uns diese vermeintliche Alternative einmal genauer angesehen. Für den Tagesspiegel…

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  • Thought paper | Impuls: The Fediverse

    How can we reap the potential of the fediverse? Not feeding surveillance capitalism, defending against digital colonialism, breaking with the dynamics of the attention economy — the promises could hardly be more appealing. But what does it take to build, invest, and nourish a healthy digital space? In this first impulse, I explore options and…

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  • Article: The Cost of Global Reach – The DSA’s implications for big online platforms

    The Digital Services Act (DSA), which will become applicable by February 2024, has received, and deserves a lot of attention. The digital landscape is about to change substantially. Reading the 100-page copy, I noticed my mind creating an inventory, or maybe more aptly: a running account. This running account could present quite the remarkable bill…

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  • Article: Your Cheat Sheet for the Digital Services Act: What and for Whom

    If you search online for “Digital Services Act” (DSA) you get some 1.62 billion hits. Compared to only 513 million hits for its five years older “policy cousin”, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All that, is of course a nerdy way of saying: the DSA is the EU’s latest regulation about to change the…

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  • Op-Ed: Mastodon as a common good alternative: Conditions apply.

    Curious about Mastodon? Personally, I’m a big fan of its potential — just as I’m weary of its bias towards those with privilege. In my latest piece, I explore 3 conditions to ensure the fediverse can provide a common, public good alternative. * diversity and inclusion * training for content moderators * sufficient funding Read…

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  • Op-Ed: We “pledge” action: The delay and diffuse tactics of climate misinformation

    We pledge action. ≠ We act. Most certainly so, when it comes to the climate crisis.In my latest commentary with Observer Research Foundation, I argue that the necessary transformation of our societies is underminded by pervasive climate misinformation. Beyond outright climate change denial, diffuse, distract, and delay tactics are far more widespread than one may…

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Cathleen Berger