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September 1, 2026

You Spin Me Round: Three Features Built to Keep a Child in the Loop

For some background music when reading this post, we encourage you to (re)discover Dead or Alive performing "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)". The opening post in this series, Non, a Ban Is Not a Plan, described how the French Conseil constitutionnel struck down the under-15 ban because the legislator had set out to address the risks posed by certain features of social media services and then wrote a rule about the user’s age...

Blog Post, digital rights, internet policy, technology
August 27, 2026

Non, a Ban Is Not a Plan: France Struck Down the Ban, Meta Settled on Features

For some background music when reading this post, we encourage you to (re)discover Michel Polnareff’s “La poupée qui fait non”. France adopted its under-15 social media ban on 21 July 2026 but hit a major roadblock a few weeks before its prohibition was due to take effect. The Conseil constitutionnel censured the central provision of the ban on 14 August, and the reasoning for its “Non” travels far beyond France. While the court did accept...

Blog Post, digital rights, European policy, internet policy, technology
July 8, 2026

Zero Knowledge, Full Record: Age Verification And The Infrastructure The Privacy Label Ignores

The “privacy-preserving age verification” label should be understood at two separate levels: on the one hand, it accurately describes a mechanism, yet on the other, it misleadingly describes a system. The protection it refers to covers a single exchange between a user and a website; the infrastructure that makes that exchange work requires knowing who the user is. The former may be preserving privacy, but the latter certainly doesn’t. That distinction has consequences. The label...

Blog Post, digital rights, technology
June 4, 2026

From Buzzword to Blueprint? The EU Tech Sovereignty Package Has Landed

A year ago, we argued that digital sovereignty was Europe's favourite empty buzzword: elastic enough for everyone to project their fears onto, specific enough to satisfy no one. Yesterday, the European Commission adopted a package that tries, with notable seriousness, to prove that argument wrong. The Tech Sovereignty Package was postponed three times since March 2026. Those delays were themselves informative: reporting suggested that language around preferential treatment for European providers was carefully managed to...

artificial intelligence, Blog Post, European policy, internet policy
May 27, 2026

It’s a Trap: Why Strengthening Copyright to Protect Creators Will Do The Opposite

Admiral Ackbar, the rebel commander from Return of the Jedi, is remembered for exactly one line: "It's a trap." The European Commission's call for evidence on the CDSM Directive review, open until 25 June 2026, deserves the same warning. Two recent analyses, one legal, one economic, converge on the same conclusion: reaching for copyright to manage the disruption caused by generative AI is a misdiagnosis. The legal framework was not built for this problem. The...

artificial intelligence, Blog Post, copyright
February 4, 2026

European Policymakers and AI: Je T’aime… EUx Non Plus

Brussels has a peculiar brand of rhythm, one that sounds suspiciously like Serge Gainsbourg’s Je t’aime… moi non plus. On one hand, the European Union beats the drum of “digital sovereignty,” professing its love for a homegrown AI ecosystem meant to rival Silicon Valley and Beijing. On the other hand, the European Parliament appears determined to build a regulatory cage so small the bird can’t even hatch, let alone fly. On January 28, 2026, the...

Blog Post, internet policy, technology
January 21, 2026

The DNA’s “Voluntary” Counseling: How to Ruin a Happy Marriage…and the Internet

Picture a happy marriage. It might not be flawless, but it is functional. You have found your rhythm where chores are divided, bills are paid, and toast is toasted without drama. You do not invoice your partner for walking past your side of the bed, nor do you escalate hallway traffic into litigation. You simply coexist pragmatically and peacefully. Now imagine the state steps in. They are not there to fix anything, mind you. They just...

Blog Post, technology
December 16, 2025

Brussels Effect 2.0: From Whistle to Workshop

For over a decade, the Brussels Effect has offered Europe a comforting narrative: that through the gravitational pull of its market, the EU shapes global practices in privacy, competition, and now artificial intelligence. Columbia professor Anu Bradford, who coined the term, argues that companies often “voluntarily extend EU rules to operations outside the EU” because complying separately would be too costly or inefficient. As Anu Bradford herself has recently emphasised, the Brussels Effect was never...

Blog Post, European policy, technology
September 24, 2025

Is Technology Really in its Villain Era? Reflections from Gikii 2025 @ IVIR Amsterdam

There’s a certain magic to the Gikii conference, and this year’s gathering at the University of Amsterdam’s @Institute for Information Law (IViR) was no exception. For someone who spends most of her days navigating the formal procedures and protocols of the EU bubble, it’s a refreshing dose of intellectual whiplash. It’s a world where a deep dive into "Foot fetish anxieties and (self-)censorship" can share the stage with a critique of big tech through...

Blog Post, technology
July 2, 2025

Ceci n’est pas un Level Playing Field

In Magritte’s famous painting, a pipe is not a pipe. In Brussels today, a “level playing field” is not a level playing field. It is a euphemism, a rebranding exercise that hides a significant power shift behind the veil of procedural fairness. And what is being proposed in the European Commission's Digital Networks Act (DNA) isn't some high-minded initiative to create balance; it's a calculated move that would upend the very foundations of how...

Blog Post, Net Neutrality, R&I, technology