Papers by Natali Helberger
Proceedings of the 2021 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval
News recommenders help users to find relevant online content and have the potential to fulfill a ... more News recommenders help users to find relevant online content and have the potential to fulfill a crucial role in a democratic society, directing the scarce attention of citizens towards the information that is most important to them. Simultaneously, recent concerns about so-called filter bubbles, misinformation and selective exposure are symptomatic of the disruptive potential of these digital news recommenders. Recommender systems can make or break filter bubbles, and as such can be instrumental in creating either a more closed or a more open internet. Current approaches to evaluating recommender systems are often focused on measuring an increase in user clicks and short-term engagement, rather than measuring the user's longer term interest in diverse and important information. This paper aims to bridge the gap between normative notions of diversity, rooted in democratic theory, and quantitative metrics necessary for evaluating the recommender system. We propose a set of metrics grounded in social science interpretations of diversity and suggest ways for practical implementations.
Digital Journalism
In contrast to the extensive debate on the influence of algorithmic news recommenders (ANRs) on i... more In contrast to the extensive debate on the influence of algorithmic news recommenders (ANRs) on individual news diets, the interaction between such systems and journalistic norms and missions remain under-studied. The change in the relationship between journalists and the audience caused by the transition to personalized news delivery has profound consequences for the understanding of what journalism should be. To investigate how media practitioners perceive the impact of ANRs on their professional norms and media organizations' missions, and how these norms and missions can be integrated into ANR design, this article looks at two quality newspapers from the Netherlands and Switzerland. Using an interviewbased approach conducted with practitioners in different departments (e.g. journalists, data scientists, and product managers), it explores how ANRs interact with organization-centred and audience-centred journalistic values. The paper's findings indicate a varying degree of prominence for specific values between individual practitioners in the context of their perception of ANRs. At the same time, the paper also reveals that some organization-centred (e.g. transparency) and most audience-centred (e.g. usability) values are viewed as prerequisites for successful ANR design by practitioners with different professional backgrounds.
Digital Journalism
This contribution critically reviews the ongoing policy initiatives in Europe to impose greater s... more This contribution critically reviews the ongoing policy initiatives in Europe to impose greater societal responsibility on social media platforms. I discuss the current regulatory approach of treating social platforms as mere 'intermediaries' of the speech of others and propose a different perspective. Instead of perceiving platforms as intermediaries and facilitators of the speech of others, I view social media platforms as active political actors in their own right, and wielders of considerable opinion power. I will explain how taking the perspective of opinion power throws a very different, and rather alarming light on the recent regulatory initiatives.
Journal of Advertising
To advance the emerging research field of computational advertising this article describes the ne... more To advance the emerging research field of computational advertising this article describes the new computational advertising ecosystem, identifies key actors within it and interactions among them, and discusses future research agendas. Specifically, we propose systematic conceptualization for the redefined advertising industry, consumers, government, and technology environmental factors, and discuss emerging and anticipated tensions that arise in the macro and exogenous factors surrounding the new computational advertising industry, leading to suggestions for future research directions. From multidisciplinary angles, areas of tension and related research questions are explored from advertising, business, computer science, and legal perspectives. The proposed research agendas include exploring transparency of computational advertising practice and consumer education; understanding the trade-off between explainability and performance of algorithms; exploring the issue of new consumers as free data laborers, data as commodity, and related consumer agency challenges; understanding the relationship between algorithmic transparency and consumers' literacy; evaluating the trade-off between algorithmic fairness and privacy protection; examining legal and regulatory issues regarding power imbalance between actors in the computational advertising ecosystem; and studying the trade-off between technological innovation and consumer protection and empowerment.
New Media & Society
While data-driven personalization strategies are permeating all areas of online communication, th... more While data-driven personalization strategies are permeating all areas of online communication, the impact for individuals and society as a whole is still not fully understood. Drawing on Facebook as a case study, we combine online tracking and self-reported survey data to assess who gets targeted with what content. We tested relationships between user characteristics (i.e. socio-demographic and individual perceptions) and exposure to branded content on Facebook. Findings suggest that social media use sophisticated algorithms to target specific groups of users, especially in the context of gender-stereotyping and health. Health-related content was predominantly targeted at older users, females, and at those with higher levels of trust in online companies, as well as those in poorer health conditions. This study provides a first indication of unfair targeting that reinforces stereotypes and creates inequalities, and suggests rethinking the impact of algorithmic targeting in creating n...
Internet Policy Review
Feel like living in a dystopia? Take a deep breath, get a strong coffee, and let us challenge you... more Feel like living in a dystopia? Take a deep breath, get a strong coffee, and let us challenge your ideas of where reality ends, and sci-fi begins…
Proceedings of the Symposium on Computer Science and Law
TATuP - Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis
Der Einsatz von DRM-Systemen kann für attraktive und benutzerfreundliche Produkte und Dienste gen... more Der Einsatz von DRM-Systemen kann für attraktive und benutzerfreundliche Produkte und Dienste genutzt werden-vorausgesetzt die Rechte und die legitimen Interessen der Verbraucher werden berücksichtigt. Der gegenwärtig vorherrschende Ansatz, DRM ausschließlich als eine Angelegenheit des Urheberrechts zu betrachten, steht einer wirksamen rechtlichen Berücksichtigung der Interessen der Verbraucher im Wege. Mit einer Reihe von Vorschlägen wird gezeigt, welche Rolle einem ergänzenden verbraucherschutzrechtlichen Ansatz zukommen könnte. Aus Forderungen, die an das Urheberrecht und den Verbraucherschutz zu stellen sind, wird eine DRM-Agenda mit mehreren Optionen der rechtlichen Ausgestaltung entwickelt. 1
SSRN Electronic Journal
This paper discusses the new phenomenon of platform ad archives. Over the past year, leading soci... more This paper discusses the new phenomenon of platform ad archives. Over the past year, leading social media platforms have installed publicly accessible databases documenting their political advertisements, and several countries have moved to regulate them. If designed and implemented properly, ad archives can correct for structural informational asymmetries in the online advertising industry, and thereby improve accountability through litigation and through publicity. However, present implementations leave much to be desired. We discuss key criticisms, suggest several improvements and identify areas for future research and debate.
Journal of Consumer Policy
In this article, we discuss mHealth apps and their potential to influence the user's behaviour in... more In this article, we discuss mHealth apps and their potential to influence the user's behaviour in increasingly persuasive ways. More specifically, we call attention to the fact that mHealth apps often seek to not only influence the health behaviour of users but also their economic behaviour by merging health and commercial content in ways that are hard to detect. We argue that (1) such merging of health and commercial content raises specific questions concerning the autonomy of mHealth app users, and (2) consumer law offers a promising legal lens to address questions concerning user protection in this context. Based on an empirically informed ethical analysis of autonomy, we develop a fine-grained framework that incorporates three different requirements for autonomy that we call "independence," "authenticity," and "options." This framework also differentiates between three different stages of mHealth app use, namely installing, starting to use, and continuing to use an app. As a result, user autonomy can be analysed in a nuanced and precise manner. Since the concept of autonomy plays a prominent, yet poorly understood role in unfair commercial practice law, we utilize the ethical analysis of autonomy to guide our legal analysis of the proper application of unfair commercial practice law in the mHealth app domain.
Journal of Information Policy
With the rapid growth of digital content, meaningful media diversity depends on users and the cho... more With the rapid growth of digital content, meaningful media diversity depends on users and the choices they make. The challenge is no longer facilitating content, but capturing attention, which is not subject to regulatory control. Empowering users with information, as exemplified in consumer law, thus becomes a more important element in the regulatory toolbox. According to Professor Helberger, the informational approach to advancing the goals of media diversity needs more coherent and informed reflection. In particular, she suggests the usefulness of "diversity labels" in conjunction with self-regulation, an idea that deserves further exploration of its potential for stimulating the audience's appetite for diverse media content.
European Journal of Marketing
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into personalisation from a practitioner... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into personalisation from a practitioner’s perspective to bridge the practitioner-academia gap and steer the research agenda. A wide scope of research has investigated personalisation from a consumer perspective. The current study aims at bridging the consumer and practitioner perspective by entering into a dialogue about the practical application of personalisation. It takes the personalisation process model by Vesanen and Raulas (2006) as the starting point. Design/methodology/approach Lead by the exploratory character of the study, semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with marketers, market researchers and online privacy specialists. Findings The results showcase how practitioners view the issues present in consumer research. First, they are overly positive about personalisation. Second, they are aware of constraining factors; findings showcase best practices to mitigate them. Finally, practitioners are aware of...
Digital Journalism
Using survey evidence from the Netherlands, we explore the factors that influence news readers' a... more Using survey evidence from the Netherlands, we explore the factors that influence news readers' attitudes toward news personalization. We show that the value of personalization depends on commonly overlooked factors, such as concerns about a shared news sphere, and the depth and diversity of recommendations. However, these expectations are not universal. Younger, less educated users have little exposure to non-personalized news, and they also show little concern about diverse news recommendations. We discuss the policy implications of our findings. We show that quality news organizations that pursue reader loyalty and trust have a strong incentive to implement personalization algorithms that help them achieve these particular goals by taking into account diversity expecting user attitudes and providing high quality recommendations. Diversity-valuing news readers are thus well placed to be served by diversity-enhancing recommender algorithms. However, some users are in danger of being left out of this positive feedback loop. We make specific policy suggestions regarding how to address the issue of diversity-reducing feedback loops, and encourage the development of diversity-enhancing ones.
Journal of Media Law
More and more news is personalised, based on our personal data and interests. As a result, the fo... more More and more news is personalised, based on our personal data and interests. As a result, the focus of media regulation moves from the news producer to the news recipient. This research asks what the fundamental right to receive information means for personalised news consumers and the obligation it imposes on states. However, the right to receive information is undertheorised. Therefore, we develop a framework to understand this right, starting from case law of the European Court of Human Rights. On this basis, we identify five perspectives on the right to receive information: political debate, truth finding, social cohesion, avoidance of censorship and selfdevelopment. We evaluate how news personalisation affects the right to receive information, considering these five different perspectives. Our research reveals important policy choices that must be made regarding personalised news considering news consumers' rights.
Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, Jan 15, 2018
The deployment of various forms of AI, most notably of machine learning algorithms, radically tra... more The deployment of various forms of AI, most notably of machine learning algorithms, radically transforms many domains of social life. In this paper we focus on the news industry, where different algorithms are used to customize news offerings to increasingly specific audience preferences. While this personalization of news enables media organizations to be more receptive to their audience, it can be questioned whether current deployments of (ANR) live up to their emancipatory promise. Like in various other domains, people have little knowledge of what personal data is used and how such algorithmic curation comes about, let alone that they have any concrete ways to influence these data-driven processes. Instead of going down the intricate avenue of trying to make ANR more transparent, we explore in this article ways to give people more influence over the information news recommendation algorithms provide by thinking about and enabling possibilities to express After differentiating fo...
Journal of Information Policy
How do you get citizens/media consumers to voluntarily choose to expose themselves to diverse con... more How do you get citizens/media consumers to voluntarily choose to expose themselves to diverse content? Is there a role for government in helping people make diverse choices? Professor Helberger addresses these questions by suggesting "diversity by design" as an antidote to the ironic fact that broadband media abundance actually makes it more difficult for users to choose diversely. She presents four conceptualizations of diversity policy: marketplace of ideas ("external diversity"); public sphere ("internal diversity"); personal autonomy ("individual choice"); and random exposure ("serendipity"), and suggests concrete design principles to guide regulators in implementing them. However, she notes, in the end it remains for the user to decide.
Telecommunications Policy
Information, Communication & Society, 2016
Personalized recommendations in search engines, social media and also in more traditional media i... more Personalized recommendations in search engines, social media and also in more traditional media increasingly raise concerns over potentially negative consequences for diversity and the quality of public discourse. The algorithmic filtering and adaption of online content to personal preferences and interests is often associated with a decrease in the diversity of information to which users are exposed. Notwithstanding the question of whether these claims are correct or not, this article discusses whether and how recommendations can also be designed to stimulate more diverse exposure to information and to break potential 'filter bubbles' rather than create them. Combining insights from democratic theory, computer science and law, the article makes suggestions for design principles and explores the potential and possible limits of 'diversity sensitive design'.
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Papers by Natali Helberger