Epistemic power of platforms and EU digital law : towards an epistemic welfare paradigm

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dc.contributor.authorMAJCHER, Klaudia
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-03T13:41:00Z
dc.date.available2025-07-03T13:41:00Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.description.abstractThe media are a highly impactful institution in any democratic system and a core knowledge infrastructure that empowers citizens. However, the unprecedented influence of large online platforms over information production and distribution has in recent years caused severe disruptions to the knowledge market, threatening the sustainability of traditional publishing and epistemic well-being of individuals. Given that information is a fundamental social good, its control and governance warrant rigorous scrutiny. Cast in the language of epistemology, power, and welfare, this article provides reflections on how the approach to platforms’ influence over the modern knowledge regime should be rethought, offering a two-fold contribution. First, it introduces the new concepts epistemic power and epistemic welfare, seeking to articulate the extent of tech companies’ influence over the contemporary digital information regime and define the aspect of individual well-being that may be jeopardised when epistemic power is excessively exercised or misused. As is argues, these new notions can not only help us deepen our understanding of the ongoing platform-driven transformations within the information ecosystem, but they are also essential to chart a course for EU policy and legal responses. Second, the article examines EU digital law – specifically digital competition law and selected digital regulations, including the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, and the European Media Freedom Act – for their potential to address distortions caused by epistemic power and to promote epistemic welfare of citizens.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.issn1028-3625
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/92968
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherEuropean University Institute
dc.relation.ispartofseriesEUI
dc.relation.ispartofseriesRSC
dc.relation.ispartofseriesWorking Paper
dc.relation.ispartofseries2025/26
dc.relation.ispartofseriesGlobal Governance Programme
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.licenseAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectEpistemic power
dc.subjectEpistemic welfare
dc.subjectDemocracy
dc.subjectMedia
dc.subjectOnline platforms
dc.subjectD42
dc.subjectD43
dc.subjectK21
dc.subjectK42
dc.subjectL4
dc.subjectL82
dc.subjectO30
dc.titleEpistemic power of platforms and EU digital law : towards an epistemic welfare paradigm
dc.typeWorking Paper
dspace.entity.typePublication
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-3331-9272
person.identifier.other38867
relation.isAuthorOfPublication2c33a0bb-34d5-41d6-be44-31a78c1a115e
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery2c33a0bb-34d5-41d6-be44-31a78c1a115e
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