Digital platforms and right to information: from mere hosts to responsible actors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26441/RC24.1-2025-3641Keywords:
digital platform, accountability, intermediary, right to information, public sphereAbstract
Despite the apparent neutrality of digital platforms, they exert a significant influence on the mediation of information, which raises questions about their responsibility to guarantee the right to information and democratic sustainability. This article analyses the intermediary role of digital platforms, considering that their presence has transformed the model of public communication. Taking as a starting point Desantes' (1994) defence of information as a human and social good, which engenders a duty for those who issue it, this research argues that digital platforms, like media, must assume a structural responsibility with information. This article explores, through a discussion with the ideas of the main theorists, how platforms have altered public communication, challenging traditional principles of the media and underlining the need to demand operational responsibility from them, as has been done by recent EU regulation.
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Author Biographies
Blanca Basanta Vázquez, Universidad de Navarra
Doctoranda en la Facultad de Comunicación en la Universidad de Navarra, donde estudia la relación entre la responsabilidad de las plataformas digitales y el derecho a la información. Ha trabajado como periodista en diversas redacciones y como consultora en el área de Influencia Digital en Llorente y Cuenca (LLYC). https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9908-6907, bbasanta@unav.es
Ana Azurmendi, Universidad de Navarra
Catedrática de Derecho Constitucional y Vicedecana de Investigación de la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de Navarra. Profesora de Derecho de la Comunicación en los grados de Periodismo y de Comunicación Audiovisual. Sus líneas de investigación son el derecho de los medios, la libertad de expresión y los derechos digitales. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6679-8826, aazur@unav.es
Project Data
This research is part of the project Resilient Media for Democracy (ReMeD) the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 101094742
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