Is a financially viable news media market the key to fighting disinformation in Europe? This is the question that Marlen Komorowski, Gijs Lambrechts and I try to answer in a new publication that is just out in open access!

The debate about a social media ban is now also in full swing in Belgium (Flanders). We understand the rightful concerns of many parents and educators, and we welcome an open debate, but we also believe that a ban for -16 yo is too drastic a measure, and see too little scientific support for it.

Great times at @roskildeuni.bsky.social !

Our university @vubrussel.bsky.social is opening 12 postdoc positions and a help desk aimed at welcoming American researchers looking for a free environment to pursue their research... press.vub.ac.be/vub-opens-it...

Did this really happen or not? Well, the publication of our article exploring news doubt & its antecedents in any case did! Through 31 interviews, we conceptualise news doubt as moments when people feel uncertain about the accuracy of a news story. intellectdiscover.com/content/jour...

Really glad to have been able to contribute together with Jo Pierson to this key paper of @nathalievanraemdonck.com's current research on platform affordances and their implications on norm enforcement on X and Instagram.

"Earlier this week, Google deleted a 7-year-old pledge from its AI principles web page, which promised the company would not design AI for weapons or surveillance." Pledges from CEOs are clearly not what is going to tech us to peace... techcrunch.com/2025/02/07/a...

And while Europe is at it, also be loud and vocal in its ambition to embed this innovation environment in turn in a value-driven and democratic system. Who knows, maybe at some points, some bright minds and wealthy VCs might be willing to sacrifice some margin of profit for actually added value.

@vubrussel.bsky.social AI lab colleagues Pieter Libin and Tim Brys: "We don't need a new Manhattan project, let alone a capitalist version of it, but rather a new CERN: an international collaboration for sustainable AI"

Smart move... legitimising authoritarianism by presenting it as the 'safer' option, one step at the time... www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Let's debate how to manage public debate, of course, but 1) moderation is not censorship. Pretending it is feels like a bad faith argument; 2) free speech knows limits by design, so an argument for limits to free speech is not per se one pro censorship. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

An important signal from Telnaes because, sadly, this kind of bravery is needed to show citizens how free speech can be stifled by media themselves when the walls between ownership & newsroom permeate, and to inspire journalist to stand up & prop up those walls. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

What a fine piece of legislation to start the year with! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Extreme right 'patriots' sure look happy across the globe... The alliance to dismantle democracy looks youthful... The banality of evil looks scary... Hope to see more journalistic pieces uncovering such connections... And the democratic alliance emerge... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Nathalie asking the right questions...

New report on what people in 8 countries think about platforms and the public sphere. We find evidence for ‘platform ambivalence’. People recognise that social, search, etc. have some benefits, but when it comes to politics they also have drawbacks - but they use them anyway. More findings:

We've been looking into online political influencers lately and how their audience 1) can push them deeper into conspiracy theories, 2) considers them as informative and entertaining simultaneously... Might help in our quest for answers... AAM & DOI: ikepiconeblog.wordpress.com/publications/

It's been so long since I posted anything anywhere... If this space turns out to be as promising as you say, I'll do my best to share some thoughts/articles/events/stuff once in a while... 😄 Maybe online participatory culture isn't dead after all...