Regulation of Online Platforms and Content: Law, Policy, and Practice

Overview

Programme type: Executive Education
Option 1: 24- 27 June 2024 (Online via Zoom)
Option 2: 15-18 July (In-person - Bentham House, London)
Duration: 4 days
Fees: £3250

The programme

In recent years a range of new regulation has emerged to govern online services which specialise in user-to-user content. This includes the EU Digital Services Act, the UK Online Safety Act, the Australian Online Safety Act, and emerging regimes in New Zealand, Canada and more. Publicly there has been a focus on the impact of these laws on ‘Big Tech’, yet the scope of these regimes includes thousands of online services, big and small.

This course will equip decision-makers to understand and analyse emerging and largely untested platform regulation. It will bring together theories of platforms, social science and technical analysis of online content, design and management techniques. Those taking the course will come away understanding the open questions in the regimes of multiple jurisdictions, the different directions in which they might be headed, and the practical ways in which they might be approached. They will understand the politics of online content regulation, and what lessons from its historical context can teach us about its future. They will be at the cutting-edge of knowledge in this space, and learning about changes in recent months as the policy in this space changes and adapts.

This course is offered both online via Zoom or In-person.

Key information

Entry requirements:

There are no formal entry requirements to our executive education courses, however, typically our applicants will have:

a minimum of three years' work experience
a bachelor's degree or higher, or significant work experience in a relevant role(s) to the degree expectation.
a fluency in English (an English language test is not required for this programme, however, the programme is taught entirely in English without translation, and so you should be comfortable communicating in English.)

Who is this course for?

This course is suitable for information and technology law, policy and compliance practitioners, policymakers, analysts and researchers across all relevant sectors and jurisdictions, including those with no prior legal training.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will:

Understand how the functioning of the Internet relates to its legal and technical governability.
Understand the dynamics of business models on the Internet, how they have been affected by the legal regimes of the past 25 years, and understand the trajectories in different jurisdictions going forwards.
Have acquired skills to analyse and critique contemporary Internet policy documents from regulators and companies.
Appreciate the difficulties of content regulation and be able to anticipate the tensions present in emerging legal regimes.
Have gained a realistic view of the impact of emerging technologies, such as new forms of artificial intelligence, and how they will interplay with existing regimes.

Content

Key topics

Day One

Foundations of Regulating Online Content

Day Two

Intermediaries and Emerging Platform Duties

Day Three

Recommenders, Algorithmic Systems and AI

Day Four

Visions of and Tensions in Future Internet Regulation

Course structure and assessments

Delegates will receive four hours of lectures/ seminars each day. There will therefore be a total of 16 hours of classroom teaching over the four days. There will be no assessment but delegates will receive a certificate of completion provided that they attend at least 12 hours (75%) of classes.

Teaching staff

Research expertise

The latest Research Excellence Framework positions us as the leading Law School in the UK. Key highlights include:

Out of 69 law faculties in the UK submitted to the 2021 REF, UCL Laws has been rated as the leading institution in the UK for research quality
UCL Laws’ 2021 REF results reflect a consistently excellent performance across all three measures of REF assessment: outputs, impact and research environment
The faculty has the top GPA (3.62), the highest number of overall 4* results, and the highest quality index (QI) in the UK
UCL Laws is ranked in the top five across all three measures (outputs, impact and research environment)

Choosing this programme will give you access to world-leading academics in their field, delivering impactful research with solid, topical and practical application.

Fees

The fees for this course are £3250. We offer discounts* for the following:

20% discount for UCL students, staff and alumni
15% discount for delegates from non-commercial sectors
15% discount to commercial organisations that send three or more delegates
15% discount for those currently not in work

*discounts can only be applied once if any of the above apply.