Martin Fertmann

Junior Researcher Content Moderation & International Law

Martin Fertmann works within the second research program of the Leibniz-Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) on “Regulatory Structures and the Emergence of Rules in Online Spaces”. He researches the private rules of large platform providers, their regulation and compatibility with human rights standards.

Next to having published numerous contributions within his research focus, he has presented his work at multiple conferences in Germany and abroad and co-chaired conferences on transparency in tech regulation and on internet governance and international human rights. He has participated in a research sprint at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society (Harvard University) and has conducted research visits to LIP6 in Paris (Sorbonne University and the French National Center for Scientific Research), as well as to the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (University of Oslo). He is a Fellow in the 2022 cohort of the Transatlantic Digital Debates program (Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin and New America’s Open Technology Institute, Washington) and a member of the EU COST Action Global Digital Human Rights Network.

Before pursuing his PhD, Martin studied law at Universität Hamburg and China-EU School of Law in Beijing, with a focus on media law. During his studies, he worked as a research associate for multiple renowned international law firms and volunteered with the University of Hamburg’s Cyber Law Clinic.

Besides his work at the HBI, he is a fellow at the Research Training Group “Law and its Teaching in the Digital Transformation” at the Center for Law in the Digital Transformation and the Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law at Universität Hamburg

At the HBI, Martin serves as elected representative of the Institute’s junior researchers and doctoral candidates, alongside Verena Albert.

Contact information

Martin Fertmann

Junior Researcher Content Moderation & International Law

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

Last update: 04.07.2024

Works by Martin Fertmann

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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