Report on the IMKR Lecture “Facebook, Google, and Others – Regulatory Initiatives from Germany and the U.S.” by Assistant Professor Guggenberger

For the first lecture in the IMKR series of the summer semester 2019, Prof. Rösler welcomed Prof. Dr. Nikolas Guggenberger, assistant professor at the University of Münster (WWU), on April 29, 2019. He addressed regulatory initiatives from Germany and the U.S. targeting platforms such as Facebook, Google, and others.

In his lecture, Guggenberger discussed the business model of the online giants Facebook, Google, and others, which is essentially based on three components: the monetization of data, the monetization of attention, and the monetization of predictions. The speaker then turned his attention to the side effects of this business model, which he sees particularly in constant surveillance, behavioral manipulation, misinformation, the polarization of society, and addictive behavior.

Guggenberger highlighted the regulatory responses to these phenomena on both sides of the Atlantic and concluded that neither the rights-based systems of the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act nor the newer forms of platform regulation, such as the NetzDG, are suitable for adequately addressing these side effects. Instead, Guggenberger proposed viewing these side effects as negative externalities of the platforms’ business models themselves and drawing on instruments of environmental law. In this regard, behavioral taxes on advertising revenue would be particularly suitable. Guggenberger also addressed the current discussion in the U.S. regarding strengthening digital corporations’ fiduciary duties toward their customers and the intensification of antitrust interventions. Ultimately, he concluded, a combination of these new regulatory mechanisms is necessary.