This year’s Charles Clark Memorial Lecture will explore whether we are at the onset of a new era in regulating the online sector. We will discuss the recent regulatory approaches to online platforms from an EU perspective as well as the EU’s proposed Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act Regulations. These are likely to change the shape of law and its enforcement online not only within the EU but also beyond it. Many States, including the UK, have themselves proposed or enacted laws that tighten the regulatory scrutiny of platform providers. Whether the regulation as such is already the answer to the question – of whether and how platforms should be regulated, and what this ruleset needs to consider for the future will be the focus of the talk. Additionally, does including “new” actors – compared to the historical evolution of publishers –in finding the right balance between freedoms and securing values and rights online by enhancing their responsibility for content and information shared via the platforms provide an appropriate answer for copyright protection.

This year’s Charles Clark Memorial Lecture will explore whether we are at the onset of a new era in regulating the online sector. We will discuss the recent regulatory approaches to online platforms from an EU perspective as well as the EU’s proposed Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act Regulations. These are likely to change the shape of law and its enforcement online not only within the EU but also beyond it. Many States, including the UK, have themselves proposed or enacted laws that tighten the regulatory scrutiny of platform providers. Whether the regulation as such is already the answer to the question – of whether and how platforms should be regulated, and what this ruleset needs to consider for the future will be the focus of the talk. Additionally, does including “new” actors – compared to the historical evolution of publishers –in finding the right balance between freedoms and securing values and rights online by enhancing their responsibility for content and information shared via the platforms provide an appropriate answer for copyright protection.

This event is supported by The Copyright Licensing Agency, Federation of European Publishers, International Publishers Association, The Publisher’s Association and Publishers’ Licensing Services.

The 2021 Charles Clark Memorial Lecture was held online with Dr Tom Chatfield and Justice O’Malley dissecting the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on copyright. You can see the session online here.