Telecommunications Policy

Digital transformation has received widespread academic, policy and media attention in the last few years, amid rapid technological developments, geopolitical tensions and an aggressive media strategy launched by a number of Silicon Valley CEOs. ...

After nearly three decades of “ICT for development”, the rollout of ICT backbone infrastructure remains challenging throughout Africa. African states do not only depend on the technology of foreign companies but must also seek external finance to ...

• Proposes a model for African agency in choice of network equipment provider.
• Development finance determines African agency in ICT infrastructure provider choice.
• Digital development agendas of donors affect ICT infrastructure ...

This study compiles an original data set of Facebook posts and comments to analyze potential overblocking and chilling effects of a German law that aims to reduce hate speech on social media platforms (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG). The ...

• This study investigates more than 7 million comments on Facebook.
• The NetzDG did not lead to excessive deletion of comments on public Facebook pages.
• We find no evidence of chilling effects on public Facebook pages due to the ...

• The global satellite broadband policies directly impact the much-debated right to Internet access and the future-oriented Internet governance agenda.
• The international nature of space connectivity necessitates global governance ...

This article proposes an informed debate on the politics of citation in internet governance (IG), focusing on gender. To this end, we use the Bibliographic Reference Index (BRI) to examine the prominence of female and male names in the IG ...

• Citations are not just the basis of knowledge construction; they are also technologies.
• The BRI aims to expand discussions about gender diversity in Internet Governance (IG).
• Male name citations represented 47% and female names 20% ...

Youth engagement has been declared a priority by European Union and United Nations policy-makers, and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) faces demands to the same end. At the IGF 2021, youth called for more youth participation, more ...

• This paper looked at how youth understand the youth stakeholder group beyond an age definition.
• We conceptualise the attempts of youth to reshape their participation in the IGF as meta-participation, or participation with the aim to ...

This study examines the content and layout of the proposed broadband consumer disclosure labels mandated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Our large-scale user study identifies key consumer preferences and comprehension factors ...

• Surveyed 2500+ broadband consumers across a 2-phase online survey study.
• Consumers strongly support the implementation of broadband labels.
• Consumers generally care most about plans' cost, speed, and reliability.
• FCC-mandated ...

This article discusses how content ranking algorithms are positioned within the AI Act. It seeks an answer the question whether content ranking algorithms could count as high-risk systems under the Act? It examines the possibility of later ...

• Content governing algorithms are the "invisible hands" of platforms, having a dramatically formative effect on public discourse.
• Analysis of the AI Act's high-risk purpose descriptions finds that an ex-post inclusion of ranking ...

The May 2023 version of Brazil's Fake News Bill (FNB), a proposed new statutory framework for social media regulation, heavily referenced the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). The literature on regulatory convergence points to the Brussels Effect, ...

• Two key political factors influenced the FNB's draft.
• The DSA serves as a symbolic reference in Brazil's Fake News Bill debate.
• The Brussels Effect is limited due to the DSA's incapacity to address local issues.
• We identified ...

Internet protocol (IP) addresses are significant information that can reveal users' locations. However, users may not be aware of it since IP-related information is rarely displayed on social media around the globe. In March 2022, China ...

• Participants perceived IP location display on social media to be a privacy issue.
• The perceived costs of self-disclosure outweighed the benefits when IP location is displayed.
• Interpersonal relationships were a primary source of ...

This paper examines academic institutions' heterogeneous initial responses to generative AI (GAI) tools like ChatGPT and factors influencing increased acceptance over time. GAI's disruptive nature coupled with uncertainty about impacts poses ...

• GAI's disruptive nature aqnd uncertainty about impacts poses adoption challenges.
• External pressures from stakeholders seeking GAI integration contribute to changing attitudes.
• Actions of institutional change agents drive growing ...