Project researcher participates in debate on the concentration of digital platforms, at the 1st Big Techs, Information and Democracy Seminar in Latin America

Between December 5th and 6th, 2023, the 1st Big Techs, Information and Democracy Seminar in Latin America was held. The event was attended by representatives from the Brazilian government and parliament, civil society organizations and researchers from Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, Costa Rica and France, who discussed proposals for the regulation of digital platforms, media education, technological sovereignty and economic regulation of platforms. Helena Martins, researcher on the project "The economic governance of digital networks: for an analysis of Internet markets and competition and their impacts on user rights",

Helena Martins participated in the event, contributing with an approach to the economic concentration of digital platforms. Initially, from the perspective of the Political Economy of Communication, she stated that concentration means, on a more general level, the concentration of social production in capital. Afterwards, she discussed how individual capitals operating on the Internet have grown, relying, to do so, on strategies of acquiring other agents, privileged access to financial resources, data control and exploitation of network effects. Finally, Helena, who represented the Coalition Rights on the Network (CDR) on the occasion, presented measures to combat the situation. The panel included the participation of Ana Mielke, executive coordinator of Intervozes; Camille Grenier, Director of Operations at the Forum on Information & Democracy (France); Gabrielle Graça, Digital Rights advisor at Artigo 19; and Menno Cox, Digital Services Sector Lead at the European Commission. The mediation was by Maricarmen Sequeira, co-executive director of TEDIC (Paraguay). The debate can be seen in full here. The seminar was held by Intervozes, Coalizão Direito na Rede and Forum on Information and Democracy. Topics such as the regulation of digital platforms, media education and paths to technological sovereignty in Latin American countries were also discussed.