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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Ben FarrandORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The Online Safety Act and Digital Services Act constitute two approaches to the co-regulation of platforms based on an approach based in mitigating harm. In both instances, policy makers have framed these new legislative initiatives as world-leading. However, how ‘harm’ is understood is significantly different in both regimes, with both conceptual and practical effects. This article explores how distinct understandings of harm can serve as a basis for increased regulatory divergence between the UK and EU. While the UK considers harm in a narrow sense of the physical and psychological harms to individuals resulting from specific illegal activities, the EU considers it broadly, conceived as both harm to individuals and harms to society, with a consideration of harm as the result of systems rather than individual behaviours. This difference in understandings results in significantly different approaches to co-regulation, impacting upon the potential for cooperation, sharing of expertise, and cross-border activity.
Author(s): Farrand B
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Media Law
Year: 2024
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 05/06/2024
Acceptance date: 08/05/2024
Date deposited: 18/05/2024
ISSN (print): 1757-7632
ISSN (electronic): 1757-7640
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17577632.2024.2357463
DOI: 10.1080/17577632.2024.2357463
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/x0dj-e497
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