The title of this year’s DigiMeet was “Platform Governance & Power: Between control, ethics and societal dynamics”. The focus was on current developments in the regulation and design of digital platforms – from legal frameworks and social and political implications to questions of technological implementation. A total of around 80 researchers from 16 countries took part, including participants from eleven EU countries as well as the UK, the USA, India, Peru and Brazil.
Scientific independence in the digital discourse
The event was opened by Wolfgang Schulz, Director of the HBI and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and Professor of Media Law at the University of Hamburg. In his welcoming address, Schulz emphasised the importance of interdisciplinary exchange, particularly with regard to the global networking of digitalisation research.
In the keynote speech that followed, Dr Tobias Mast, head of the research area “Regulatory Structures and the Emergence of Rules in Online Spaces” at the HBI and member of the advisory board of the Coordination Office for Digital Services at the Federal Network Agency, pleaded for independent, curiosity-driven and evidence-based science. This is the only way research can inform and guide platforms, regulatory authorities and policymakers. According to Mast, activist or ideologically coloured positions jeopardise the necessary distance and credibility of scientific analysis.
Parallel sessions on regulation, platforms and governance
The keynote speech was followed by several parallel sessions in which young researchers from all over Europe and beyond presented their current work. The thematic focus ranged from legal and ethical issues of platform regulation to new forms of algorithmic moderation and the social dynamics of platform governance.
One of the sessions was chaired by Professor Andreas Jungherr, member of the bidt Board of Directors and Chair of “Political Science, in particular Digital Transformation” at the University of Bamberg. Under the title “Platform regulation and community building – Networks and discourses”, four contributions highlighted key challenges in dealing with social platforms:
Marcus Bösch (University of Münster) showed how participatory propaganda works on TikTok and how users are actively involved in political communication, using the 2025 federal election as an example.
Dr Regina Cazzamatta (University of Erfurt) examined the consequences of the end of the fact-checking programmes at Meta and attempted to locate them in the field of tension between freedom of opinion and fake news.
Lama Ranjous (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg) analysed the role of social platforms in crisis and war zones such as Syria, where posts and videos are not only political documents but also evidence of violence and survival. She pointed out that automated deletions in such contexts can have serious consequences for reappraisal and justice.
Finally, Philipp Riederle (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford) discussed the interoperability of platforms as a possible instrument for limiting concentrations of power. He also pointed out the practical and social hurdles that stand in the way of implementation.
Diversity, exchange and networking
Overall, DigiMeet 2025 offered an impressive panorama of current digitalisation research and confirmed its importance as an exchange platform for young researchers in German-speaking and international countries.
The discussions made it clear that platform governance is no longer an exclusively legal or technical topic, but also touches on issues of democracy, the public sphere and global responsibility.
It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with researchers from various disciplines who are working on similar questions.
Quote from a participant
Outlook
DigiMeet 2025 once again demonstrated the benefits of interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration in digitalisation research. Together with its partner institutions CAIS, HBI and the Weizenbaum Institute, bidt will continue the format in the future – with the aim of networking young researchers and further promoting critical dialogue on the social, political and technological conditions of digital transformation.
Further links
To the Event
To the bidt Graduate Centres for doctoral Researchers and postdocs
