Call for Papers: Early Career Platform Regulation Conference, 21-22 May 2026
Online Platforms: Private Actors with State-like Power?
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law
Call for Abstracts
The concentration of legislative, executive, and judicial powers within online platforms raises profound questions about how they influence society. The assumption of state-like powers by companies such as Meta, Google, X, and TikTok invites critical examination of their impact on fundamental rights, governance, and democracy. This conference explores the extent to which major platforms exercise functions historically associated with sovereign states, and the implications this has for law and policy. Through keynote speeches, panels, and discussions, we will examine how all three branches of state power are exercised in the digital sphere, and the legal consequences this might have
The conference is designed to bring together early career researchers. We especially encourage applications from current PhD candidates. Abstracts should not exceed 600 words and should be submitted (as PDF) to the organizers’ emails (m.bovermann@csl.mpg.de; m.rabajante@csl.mpg.de; d.buchmann@csl.mpg.de) by 19 December 2025 at the latest. Please use the subject line “Early Career Platform Regulation Conference 2026.”
We plan to publish the papers presented at the conference and are in the process of identifying suitable publication venues. Papers will be around 6.000 words in length, depending on publisher requirements. Funding for travel and accommodation is, in principle, available for all speakers, subject to confirmation by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law.
For more details, refer here
