Roch-Olivier Maistre opens the second Arcom study day
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of Parliament,
Teachers,
Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,
I'm delighted to welcome you this morning to the second edition of the Arcom study days, which follow on from the success of last year's launch. It is, of course, a pleasure and a source of pride for our institution to have made this academic event a ritual, providing much-needed insight into the transformations of the audiovisuel and digital landscape, and enabling us to reflect collectively on the challenges ahead in the sphere of regulation.
On my own behalf and on behalf of the AMF College and its teams, I would like to extend my warmest thanks to the researchers who are taking part in this event by presenting their research work. I know that their work will provide valuable input for the Authority's reflections and decisions, as well as those of European regulators. I would particularly like to thank the foreign researchers who have kindly accepted our invitation.
I would also like to acknowledge the presence of the French government this morning, which is a major supporter of Arcom's research policy, and to thank our partners and interlocutors from the public sector and the audiovisual and digital industry, who have come to take part in the day's discussions. I have no doubt that they will find echoes of the challenges they face and, I hope, elements of analysis and response relevant to the public policies and strategies they need to deploy.
I'm delighted to see that Arcom's Scientific Committee is also represented, as it is of course one of the linchpins of our policy of openness to research, and has selected the work to be presented today.
Françoise Benhamou, Professor of Economics at Sorbonne Paris Nord, and also Co-Chairwoman of the Cercle des Economistes, Chairwoman of Radio France's Ethics Committee and member of Arte's Program Advisory Committee, will lead the morning's discussions, with the support she kindly renewed after the first edition. My warmest thanks to her.
Last but not least - and I was going to say, as president of an institution, above all! - to the Arcom teams, who have been preparing this event for months and are the prime movers behind it. My special thanks go to the Department of Research, Economics and Forecasting, which has welcomed a new director since the start of 2023, Bruno Schmutz, who has taken our research priorities to heart. I would like to underline the remarkable involvement of his deputy Sébastien Lécou and Théophile Megali in the preparation and organization of this event, as well as in the almost daily links we maintain with researchers. Théophile will be moderating this afternoon's discussions, and I'd like to thank him for his commitment. Nor should I forget the determined efforts of our Communications Department.
1. This time of academic exchange is part of a precise manager: that of the consolidation of the regulation's study policy over the last few years.
I would like to pay tribute to Professor Nathalie Sonnac, who embodied this priority during her term of office as a member of the French Superior Audiovisual Council, bringing her reflexes and ethics as a researcher to our institution. The one-off or recurring studies published by Arcom, sometimes in partnership with other institutes, help to shed light on the transformations of the environment in which we operate.
To carry out our missions successfully, we need data, analysis, debate and perspective, in a company that values freedom of expression and a balance of viewpoints.
That's why our links with the academic world and with our institutional partners are essential: I've already mentioned our scientific committee, but we've also set up a joint digital center with Arcep and recently signed an agreement with PEReN; we're also in advanced contact with the French government's digital department to formalize our cooperation.
Perhaps now more than ever, criminal proceedings and regulation need all the information they can get, from all sources, if they are to fulfil their objectives in the service of the public. They are therefore bound to benefit from closer ties with the world of research. We are all familiar with the terrible sentence attributed to Lavoisier by the President of the Revolutionary Court: " The Republic has no need of scientists ". Without wishing to comment on the historical veracity of this sentence, I am convinced that Arcom needs scientists.
It's an understatement to say that our institution today operates in an increasingly complex landscape, undergoing profound and accelerated transformations, with an ever-growing number and variety of interlocutors. Our missions often mean that we are at the heart of a public debate that recent events have tended to polarize, against a backdrop of increasing misinformation and hate speech, which has led us to strengthen our legislative arsenal in this area. Our missions have thus been extended by 13 texts since 2018, at both national and European level, which also underlines the legislator's ability to react to the new reality of our field of action.
Finally, even more recently, the emergence of new technologies, particularly in the field of generative artificial intelligence, has raised numerous concerns in our sector in terms of verifying information and protecting creation.
All this data raises unprecedented issues for the regulator, who must tackle them head-on, in a constant and sustained dialogue with all other stakeholders. With this in mind, a few weeks ago we launched a mission on the impact of AI on audiovisuel and digital regulation, which I entrusted to two members of the College, Benoît Loutrel and Antoine Boilley.
On all these subjects, whose impact often goes beyond the national manager, but which cannot ignore the specificities of France, the perspective of research is essential. In short, although this day will not put the church back in the middle of the village, I hope it will help put science back at the heart of much-needed debates for a few hours!
2. This year's study day takes place at a pivotal time for our institution and for research, with the entry into force of the European regulation on digital services (the DSA).
Let me remind you that this text pursues two major objectives: to fight agains manifestly unlawful content and practices on platforms by strengthening the control of their actions, and to protect the fundamental rights of users. To achieve these objectives, the regulation sets out means and transparency obligations for digital service operators, with a strengthening regime for very large platforms.
Governance is based on coordination, with a coordinating authority for digital services appointed in each country, and a central role played by the European Commission. The draft legislation to secure and regulate the digital space, presented by Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, proposes appointing Arcom as coordinator for France, in conjunction with the French national data protection agency (CNIL) and the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control.
The logic of the RSN is also based on the close involvement of researchers in digital regulation.
Article 40 of the regulation sets up an innovative mechanism to give researchers access to data from major search engines and online platforms. Our difficulties in understanding the new informational dynamics of our societies stem largely from the disparity of information with platforms. We still lack scientific knowledge on the possible biases of their algorithms, the effects of these algorithms on our social dynamics, or the relevance of the responses that platforms will propose to the systemic risks they induce or amplify. The work of researchers will therefore be central.
Even if, as I said, we didn't wait for the SNSR to create and maintain close links with the academic world, this text will renew them in depth and give them another dimension.
In anticipation of this new manager, in 2022 Arcom launched a consultation of researchers on their access to platform data, the results of which we made public at a conference devoted to the subject last June, which we organized in conjunction with the Conseil national du numérique. Now, as part of an assertive European approach, we must collectively ensure the long-term success of the manager set up by the regulation.
3. I'd now like to turn to the content of this event, to which we have given an international dimension this year.
The papers were selected following a call for papers issued by Arcom, which was open to the entire scientific community, including doctoral and post-doctoral students. Once again this year, we received many very interesting and varied applications - I'm glad I didn't have to choose between them myself.
In the same spirit as our first study day, and reflecting our missions, the event is intended to be multidisciplinary: works in economics, law, communication and sociology will be presented, some in English, reflecting the growing internationalization of our business. The universities and research centers represented here today come from all over France, but also, as I said, from abroad, which makes for a real wealth of insights to be shared today.
The day is divided into four themed panels, all of which are highly topical, as you will have noticed. Here they are:
- At 9:15 a.m., the implementation of the European regulation on digital services
- At 11:30am , the new challenges of content moderation and regulation
- At 2.30pm, the role of the media in polarizing public opinion
- At 4:30 pm, media reconfigurations as seen from a player's point of view
In addition to these rich panels, the day will be rounded out by two particularly interesting keynotes:
- One at 11:00 a.m. from Yann Le Cun, director of artificial intelligence research at Meta and professor at New York University
- The other at 3:45 p.m. fromElda Brogi, professor at the European Institute in Florence and scientific coordinator of the Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom.
I'd like to thank them for doing us the honor of sharing this moment with us, given their particularly busy agendas. I would remind you that the whole day will be broadcast live on our website and will be available as a rerun - like many audiovisual players, we too share the art of the replay!
With that as my introduction, I'd like to hand over to Françoise Benhamou to begin the first panel discussion. Thank you very much for listening and for attending, and I wish you all an excellent day's discussions.
JEA 2023 - Opening address by Roch-Olivier Maistre
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