About the conference
To coincide with the Digital Services Act (DSA)’s second anniversary of full applicability across the EU, the DSA Observatory at the University of Amsterdam hosted its second international conference on The DSA and Platform Regulation.
This two-day event took place at the Amsterdam Law School on 16-17 February 2026. It reflected on the DSA and European platform regulation, including in its broader legal and political context, under the overall theme of platform governance and democracy.
The conference brought together speakers from academia, civil society, regulators, industry, and legal practice. It featured 100 papers, which selected authors presented across five breakout sessions, as well as a poster session on the DSA’s risk-based approach. Other themes included DSA politics and enforcement, access to data for researchers, user redress and reporting mechanisms, content moderation, and the DSA’s intersections with AI and the regulation of digital markets.
The conference is organised by the DSA Observatory, a project run by the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam, as part of its work within the DSA Research Network (a collaboration with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and the Hans-Bredow-Institut), funded by Stiftung Mercator.
The full conference programme and video recordings of plenary sessions are available below.
You can revisit the programme and video recordings of our 2024 conference here.
Conference Programme
Conference Video Recordings
The conference keynote presentations and plenary panels were recorded in full. You can access all video recordings
here, or find the individual sessions below.
Opening Remarks
- Joris van Hoboken (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam)
- Mireille van Eechoud (Dean, University of Amsterdam Law School)
Panel: Rights, Risks, and Platform Accountability
- Asha Allen (CDT Europe)
- Robert Spano (Gibson Dunn)
- Peter Chapman (Knight-Georgetown Institute)
- Rachel Griffin (Compliant and Accountable Systems Group, University of Duisburg-Essen)
- Moderator: Martin Husovec (London School of Economics)
Keynote
- Prabhat Agarwal (DG Connect, European Commission)
Academic Keynote: Shareholders’ Values: Platform Regulation and Tech Oligarchy
- Paddy Leerssen (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam)
Panel: Platform Power, Markets, and Democracy
- Martijn Snoep (ACM)
- Anna Gerbrandy (Utrecht University)
- Thomas Höppner (Geradin Partners)
- Mark Dempsey (Article 19)
- Moderator: Natali Helberger (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam)
Panel: Platform Regulation and AI
- Michael Veale (UCL)
- Natali Helberger (University of Amsterdam)
- Seda Guerses (TU Delft)
- Peggy Valcke (KU Leuven)
- Moderator: João Quintais (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam)
Panel: European Platform Regulation, Moving (it) Forward
- David Kaye (UC Irvine)
- Anne-Marie Pollock (CnaM Ireland)
- Remy Chavannes (Brinkhof)
- Wolfgang Schulz (Leibniz Institute of Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut, HIIG)
- Athina Tsitsou (DG Connect, European Commission)
- Moderator: Joris van Hoboken (University of Amsterdam)
*Please note that due to a technical issue, the introductory remarks by Joris van Hoboken and the beginning of Remy Chavannes’ speech were not recorded and are therefore unavailable.
Closing Remarks and Acknowledgements
- Joris van Hoboken (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam)
Venue
The conference is held in-person at the University of Amsterdam’s Law School on 16-17 February 2026.
The main conference venue is De Brug (“The Bridge”, pictured below), located at the University’s Roeterseiland Campus (Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam).
De Brug can be accessed by entering the A/B/C building complex and taking the elevators (or stairs) to the 4th floor via the C-wing.
De Brug (main conference venue)
Attendance
If you would like to express interest in attending possible future conferences and events, you may do so using this form.
Due to limited venue capacity, registration is by invitation only, with priority given to accepted paper authors, speakers, and invited experts.
Participants and presenters will need to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.
Call for Papers
The conference Call for Papers is now closed. Authors were notified of acceptance decisions in November 2025.
Organizing Committee
John Albert, University of Amsterdam
Ronan Fahy, University of Amsterdam
Natali Helberger, University of Amsterdam
Joris van Hoboken, University of Amsterdam
Magdalena Jóźwiak, University of Amsterdam
Paddy Leerssen, University of Amsterdam
João Pedro Quintais, University of Amsterdam
Programme Committee
Naomi Appelman, Weizenbaum Institute
Chinmayi Arun, Yale Law School
Peter Chapman, Knight-Georgetown Institute
Alissa Cooper, Knight-Georgetown Institute
Deirdre Curtin, European University Institute
Anna van Duin, University of Amsterdam
Catalina Goanta, Utrecht University
Robert Gorwa, WZB Social Science Centre
Inge Graef, Tillburg University
Rachel Griffin, Sciences Po
Franz Hofmann, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Jeanette Hofmann, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Martin Husovec, London School of Economics
Daphne Keller, Stanford Law School
Matthias Kettemann, University of Innsbruck
Eva Lievens, Ghent University
Tobias Mast, Leibniz Institute for Media Research
Pietro Ortolani, Radboud University
Alexander Peukert, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
Benjamin Raue, Trier University
Hannah Ruschemeier, FernUniversität in Hagen
Irene Roche Laguna, European Commission
Wolfgang Schulz, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Sebastian Schwemer, BI Norwegian Business School
Martin Senftleben, University of Amsterdam
Alexandre de Streel, University of Namur
Damian Tambini, London School of Economics
Rebekah Tromble, George Washington University
Suzanne Vergnolle, Conservatoire national des arts et métiers
Mathias Vermeulen, AWO
Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam
Folkert Wilman, European Commission
Lorna Woods, University of Essex
Nicolò Zingales, Fundação Getulio Vargas
Questions?
The DSA Observatory team can be reached by email at:
dsaobservatory-ivir@uva.nl