Magazine: EU Digital Services Act and the future of digital research

[Henningsen Susanne]

  17 December 2025

	
ERC EC

European Research Council

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      ERC Magazine


        Editorial - Making the digital world ours

As our societies become increasingly shaped by algorithms, platforms, 
and data-driven systems, the challenge is not just to keep up but to 
remain truly in control, writes Gerd Gigerenzer, Vice-President of the 
ERC Scientific Council.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/914960/en/2869>


        Europe’s next frontier for independent research

The research community is at the forefront of holding platforms 
accountable, shaping a viable data-access regime and advancing Europe’s 
digital sovereignty ambitions, writes Brandi Geurkink, Director of the 
Coalition for Independent Technology Research.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/914963/en/2869>


        How the research community can help keep Big Tech in check

By opening up platform data to independent researchers, the Digital 
Services Act (DSA) gives Europe’s scientific community new power to 
scrutinise how digital platforms influence our societies, writes 
Alexandre de Streel, Professor of EU digital law at the University of 
Namur and the College of Europe.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/915109/en/2869>


        What users see – and don’t see

Professor of Data Analysis at the University of Graz and ERC-grantee 
Jana Lasser wants to understand what people see in their personalised 
feeds to grasp how recommendation algorithms shape civic discourse – and 
where current regulation still falls short.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/914964/en/2869>


        News beyond the echo chamber

When people worry about ‘the algorithm’, they often imagine invisible 
machines quietly narrowing our horizons. ERC grantee Damian Trilling, 
Professor of Journalism Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, sees a 
more complex story and explores how news recommender systems can also 
broaden what we see online.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/914966/en/2869>


        Bots, amplification and system-wide effects

ERC grantee Milena Tsvetkova, Associate Professor of Computational 
Social Sciences at the LSE, studies how humans and intelligent machines 
interact in digital spaces. Her work moves past isolated cases to 
explore how interventions, bots, and algorithms affect entire networks, 
impacting democracy and daily interaction.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/914967/en/2869>


        Auditing moderation

ERC-grantee Stefano Cresci, researcher at IIT-CNR, wants platforms to be 
honest about their moderation – and he is using data from the Digital 
Services Act (DSA) to check. His research shows that bans and removals 
work for most users, but a vocal minority becomes more aggressive in 
their behaviour ‘There is no one-size-fits-all solution,’ he cautions.

more <https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/erc/redirection/item/914971/en/2869>

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Catalogue Number: JZ-01-25-023-EN-Q