Journal of Digital Media & Policy - Emerging Debates on Internet Platform Policy and Regulation in Latin America, Jun 2023

Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) have become an important tool of corporate governance in the field of business and human rights and, thus, have been embraced by companies in the ICT sector. This was to an extent predictable: for quite some time now, internet companies have been accused of violating human rights through action or omission. In this context, HRIAs appear as a procedural mechanism that may help them make better decisions and, at least, curb criticism. This article seeks to contribute to inquiries into this development by highlighting the regulatory context in which HRIAs emerged within the ICT sector, the institutional history of the tool, its ambiguous genealogy and the challenges and opportunities for its usage in Latin America.

Regulating the dissemination of online content is necessary and must be underpinned by human rights standards. It is up to the states to ensure responses anchored in sustainable governance models for the protection of people’s rights. The purpose of the research is to identify the national communication policies implemented in the Andean countries between 2018 and 2022 that enable the adoption of the principles for a free, open and inclusive internet, as expressed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. The research is descriptive and relational, using qualitative methodology through content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The adoption of standards is carried out, thanks to the guidance of international organizations. The humanistic vision that regulations should have is highlighted, and the aim should be to promote people’s rights in order to achieve better levels of progress and well-being.

The aim of this article is to analyse comparatively a set of laws and bills that were submitted in eight Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru) on privacy and protection of personal data during the first two decades of the twenty-first century, in order to describe the regulatory tendencies and legislative challenges found at the regional level to regulate these issues. The key question to be answered is to what extent the regulation of issues associated with privacy and protection of personal data may impact the guarantees for the exercise of freedom of expression in the Latin American digital landscape.

This article describes the status of freedom of expression in Chile in the crisis context that began with the October 2019 social outburst based on an analysis of primary and secondary data that includes complaints from platform users, legislative work and court of justice sentences. The main detected issues include situations of algorithmic censorship, bills that contribute more problems than regulatory solutions and courts of justice that operate as online content moderators in defamation and slander cases. We conclude by identifying problems of different scopes and levels, but which equally refer to a dissociation between the freedom of expression violations suffered by platforms users in this context of unrest and matters of concern regarding freedom of expression on the internet, both in parliamentary initiatives and court of justice sentences, in which internet content moderation is addressed based on pre-digital legal criteria.

In the rise of video-on-demand (VOD) services, Netflix is a prominent actor, expanding its operations in Latin America while regulators remain evasive. Its power concentration motivated research from different perspectives, while its role as a policy actor remains under-investigated. Therefore, this article engages in the political economy of communication to investigate how Netflix uses power to build an image of an expert able to provide policy recommendations to Latin America. We combine qualitative document analysis, participant observation and semi-structured expert interviews to assess Netflix’s strategy to consolidate as a policy actor in Latin America. The findings revealed Netflix’s attempts to legitimize itself as a promotor of inclusion and diversity without the need for regulation while connecting with the leading institutions promoting a policy discourse according to its interests. The enlargement of Netflix’s agency through knowledge production and connection with policy entrepreneurs raises concerns about power concentration and constraints of cultural policies.

Review of: Media Governance: A Cosmopolitan Critique, Sarah Anne Ganter and Hanan Badr (eds) (2022)

Cham: Springer International Publishing, 318 pp.,

ISBN 978-3-03105-019-0, h/bk, EUR 129.99