How to re-socialise Big Tech? A major study examines the tricks and traps of social media
Humans are increasingly losing agency on social media. A team of legal scholars from Leiden University, computer scientists from other universities and civil society organisations, is conducting a study into the balance of power between Big Tech and users.
‘RESOCIAL’ is a multi-disciplinary research project involving collaboration between legal scholars and computer scientists. They have launched a comprehensive study on the protection of social media users' rights and their online vulnerabilities. The research was proposed by two scholars from Leiden Law School – Associate Professor Gianclaudio Malgieri, from the eLaw department, and Assistant Professor Michael Klos, from the Jurisprudence department. Researchers from other disciplines and universities have joined the project which was launched in June 2024 and will last two years. In Leiden, Maria-Lucia Rebrean (PhD Candidate), Constanta Rosca (Postdoc) and Maëlle Picout (researcher) are also joining the RESOCIAL project.
Vulnerability
A key term used in the research is the concept of vulnerability. Malgieri: ‘By vulnerability, we mean that a user is at a higher risk of having their fundamental rights violated.’ These rights include the right to privacy, freedom from discrimination, as well as the freedom of speech and expression.
‘Behind advertisements and other online promotions are sophisticated computer programs that learn from our online behaviour’, Malgieri continues. ‘Social media companies can use this to mentally manipulate us and influence our behaviour. And what if these platforms lead to addiction? Especially when people become dependent on existing in a virtual world owned by a private, profit-driven company.’
The study will focus in particular on the vulnerability of certain groups in society, like children online and women who are victims of gender-based violence. It will also focus on the vulnerability of consumers in relation to general terms and conditions and the more or less forced acceptance of these. Or the pressure to be present and to interact on social media. Malgieri: ‘We’ve adopted a holistic approach and have deliberately chosen a broad definition of vulnerability.’
Past research shows that social media can deliberately create user dependency. People also become addicted through various built-in psychological tricks that make them scroll endlessly by holding their attention. Malgieri: ‘We’re seeing a situation of serious power imbalance when someone becomes dependent on social media. To what extent does someone still feel free, consciously or subconsciously, to leave social media and go offline?’ Constanta Rosca, who has joined the project as a postdoctoral researcher, adds that ‘dependent users will continue surrendering more and more personal data to the social media platform; this could lead to a vicious circle of vulnerability exploitation, where the platform learns how to extract ever-more value – attention, money and data – from these users’.
The power of Big Tech
The researchers will use the results to contribute to new legislation and policies that control the power of Big Tech. Self-regulation by social media companies like Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), X and Bytedance (TikTok), has not yielded sufficient results. Only in recent years have European guidelines begun to take shape. The RESOCIAL study aims to lead to policies to implement the sections of the Digital Services Act, the AI Act, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that protect against the vulnerabilities referred to. Regulators and lawmakers in the Netherlands will also learn how legislation can provide better protection on the use of social media. Klos: ‘This is where the value of our study lies: we’ll uncover how people experience vulnerability and whether the law provides adequate protection.’
Malgieri, Klos, and the other scientists will study how Meta Platforms (mainly Facebook and Instagram), Alphabet (Google) and also LinkedIn, can improve their policies. Additionally, the research project includes a non-legal component: the development of designs for social media platforms that take vulnerability into account. This is being carried out primarily by computer scientists from the University of Twente. Malgieri: ‘They’ll develop vulnerability-sensitive design measures. So, they’ll show how the design of social media platforms can address vulnerability.’ This will result, among other things, in a toolkit.
The research is also sociological, explains Maria-Lucia Rebrean, who has joined the study as a PhD researcher. ‘People can both benefit from social media and become dependent on it at the same time. For example, someone who wants to stay in touch with family on another continent may be more dependent and at the same time see social media as valuable.’
Malgieri and Klos explain that the timing of their application coincided with a perfect storm of circumstances. The research aligns with the government's desire to address the digital divide and growing inequality in society. It aims to adopt and implement European guidelines. The outcomes of RESOCIAL will be useful in this context. ‘Our advantage,’ says Klos, ‘is that we have civil society and governmental partners who are involved in policy and lawmaking.’ EU regulators are also taking part, and representatives from the European Commission who draft laws for online protection will join the workshops organised by RESOCIAL.
While the project envisages a dialogue with tech companies, Malgieri stresses that ‘for us, it's also important to say that the law doesn't need the approval of Big Tech. The law should impose something, and Big Tech will need to comply.’
Let’s wait for the next era of social media, possibly driven by the RESOCIAL research.