Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard)

Senior Researcher "Regulatory Structures and the Emergence of Rules in Online Spaces"

Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard) is head of the research program “Regulatory Structures and the Emergence of Rules in Online Spaces” at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). His team investigates the rules under which new forms and practices of social understanding and self-assurance emerge in digital communication spaces, and especially in social networks.

After studying law in Graz, Geneva and as a Fulbright and Boas scholar at Harvard School, he completed his doctorate with a thesis on the legal status of the individual in international law. In 2014, he was called to the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders” at Goethe University Frankfurt as a postdoctoral researcher, where he habilitated with Prof. Kadelbach and Prof. Vesting at the Institute for Public Law at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. His thesis was on the normative order of the internet and he was awarded the authorisation to teach international law, internet law and legal theory. After substitutions in Heidelberg and Jena, he followed the call to the professorship for innovation, theory and philosophy of law at the Institute for Theory and Future of Law at the University of Innsbruck in autumn 2021.

Other Activities

In addition to his work at the HBI, Matthias C. Kettemann is a research group leader for “Global Constitutionalism and the Internet” and head of the research project “The Public International Law of the Internet” at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin. He is also the head of section of “International Law and the Internet” at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and a member of the board of directors and research group leader for “Platform and Content Governance” at the Sustainable Computing Lab, Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Contact information

Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard)

Senior Researcher "Regulatory Structures and the Emergence of Rules in Online Spaces"

Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI)
Rothenbaumchaussee 36
20148 Hamburg
Germany

Last update: 04.07.2024

Works by Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, LL.M. (Harvard)

Illustration: ein oranger Roboter sitzt inmitten schwarzer Figuren, die Menschen darstellen
Projekt Project of the DFG Research Group ComAI

Communicative AI and Deliberative Quality

What impact do social bots that use Large Language Models (LLMs) have on the quality of political discourse? The project investigates communicative AI in the social domain of political discourse using discourse monitoring and discourse intervention and thus with a largely experimental approach. The case studies are debates in German on the topic of climate change on X, Mastodon and Bluesky.

Cover of the online article on “Mediendiskurs”
Publikation Article on the Platform mediendiskurs

About Constant Dripping and the Sum of Its Parts

The article by Stephan Dreyer and Sünje Andresen examines the challenges that arise for the regulatory framework of child and youth media protection as a result of “micro content” and the cross-platform media use of children and young people, and investigates whether and how regulation can do justice to these new realities.

Cover of a publication
Publikation Conversational Atmosphere Report

Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy

Do information ecosystems weaken democracy and promote the viral spread of mis- and disinformation? In the report “Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy: A Global Synthesis of the State of Knowledge on New Media, AI and Data Governance”, an international team of researchers assesses the role of information ecosystems.

Mit Dall-E generierte Illustration eines Newsrooms, den ein Roboter und ein Mensch betreten
Projekt Project of the DFG Research Group ComAI

Automation of News and Journalistic Autonomy

The project, which is part of the DFG research group ComAI, investigates communicative AI in journalism by analyzing the associated challenges for journalistic autonomy at the interactional, organizational, and societal levels.

Handydisplay mit mehren App-Icons Chat GPT
Projekt Project of the DFG Research Group ComAI

The Juridification of Communicative AI

The project, which is part of the DFG research group ComAI, is investigating the legal framework for communicative bots (in particular ChatGPT) and social bots (in particular X and Facebook) – on the one hand from the perspective of communication law, and on the other hand from the perspective of emerging AI regulation.

Cover des Impulspapiers
Publikation Discussion Paper for the Friedich-Ebert-Stiftung

How Can the Resilience of the German Media System Be Strengthened?

Tobias Mast has published a paper in the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's ‘FES Impuls’ series. The paper examines the legal and structural foundations of public broadcasting and makes it clear that reforms are necessary to ensure its independence in the long term.

Cover des Arbeitspapiers Nr. 74 "Jahr der Nachricht"
Publikation Working Paper No. 74 Available for Download

Experiences with Hands-On Actions in the Year of the News 2024

The "Year of the News 2024" project, part of the #UseTheNews initiative, aims to reach young people with a range of journalistic content and activities and get them involved in journalism. Leonie Wunderlich and Dr. Sascha Hölig researched how young people engage with the campaign and these activities.

Cover of issue 4 of the journal "Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft"
Publikation Available as Open Access

M&K 4/2024 Published

The articles in M&K 4/2024 focus, among other things, on the topics of media use research, satire and the role of news agencies. All content is available in open access via the eLibrary of the Nomos publishing house.

first page of the online article
Publikation Dossier of the Federal Agency for Civic Education

AI in Social Media

In the online dossier ‘When Appearances Are Deceiving – Deepfakes and Political Reality’ from the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), Jan-Hinrik Schmidt explains how social media platforms have been using machine learning technologies for some time now to curate and moderate content.

Cover of Working Paper No. 73 SIKID
Publikation Working Paper Available for Download

Regulations for Empirical Research with Children

No data processing without the informed consent of the persons concerned. This is one of the conclusions of Sünje Andresen, Stephan Dreyer and Neda Wysocki, who have looked at the legal issues and imponderables in empirical research with children.

Der Schiftsteller Siegfried Lenz vor Hafenkulisse
Projekt Literature on the Radio

Siegfried Lenz: How the Author Uses the Media

The project examines the radio works of the renowned Hamburg author Siegfried Lenz (1926-2014) and documents in three extensive volumes what Lenz wrote for radio from the 1950s to the 1970s, mostly for the NDR.

Cover of the Handbook Media and Communication Governance
Publikation accessible open access

Private Ordering of Media

In a handbook article, Tobias Mast, Matthias C. Kettemann and Wolfgang Schulz address the question of how media organizations and platform operators setprivate law through, for example, their terms and conditions.

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