Can Social Media Companies Engage in Self-Regulation?
Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, The Brookings Institution
CARVIEW |
CISR focuses on research that addresses industry-wide challenges to develop fair, future-proof best practices.
Research in Progress
CISR has commissioned new research on emerging use cases for soft law on the following topics. Research will be published in 2025. As papers are completed, they will be made available below. The following papers are in progress:
These papers were presented at the CISR 2024 Soft Law Summit, held in partnership with the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University’s Center for Law, Science and Innovation, exploring self-regulation, as an effective option to help business solve systemic, industry-wide challenges and achieve important policy objectives.
Can Social Media Companies Engage in Self-Regulation?
CISR and Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law held the Soft Law Summit to discuss the practical application and potential of soft law and industry self-regulation. Several of these papers were presented and discussed at the Summit and/or the ASU-hosted conference that followed.
Industry Consensus Standards as Soft Law to Deploy Automated Driving Systems
In this paper, the researchers examine automated driving systems (ADS), key factors affecting the industry, review the current state of automotive regulation in the United States, and then consider both hard and soft law solutions, ultimately concluding that using soft law makes the most sense at this time. The limits of industry consensus standards are considered, and the authors also make recommendations to regulators, industry and academia.
Helen A. F. Gould and Jeffrey K. Gurney
Cooperative Control: Autonomous Vehicles, Safety, & Soft Law Regulatory Regimes
In this paper, Professor Pearl proposes a new approach to the regulation of the autonomous vehicle market in allowing the industry to use its deep expertise to develop concrete industry standards, and uses as an instructive example the case of industry self-regulation in the amusement industry with respect to fixed rides, citing the strong industry incentive to pursue safety.
Tracy Hresko Pearl, University of Oklahoma, College of Law
Soft Law Functions in the International Governance of AI
In this paper, the researchers offer an overview of soft law functions in the context of international AI governance and propose the establishment of a global AI governance mechanism to fulfill AI soft law functions that have not been picked up by existing institutions.
Wendell Wallach, Anka Reuel, Anja Kaspersen, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
Artificial Intelligence, Medical Devices, & Soft Law Governance
In this paper, scholar Adam Thierer explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare and in particular, the unique governance challenges for areas such as drug discovery and development and the potential of technology to revolutionize healthcare and the practice of medicine.
Adam Thierer, R Street Institute
Identifying Opportunities to Govern How Autonomous Vehicles Communicate
In this paper, the researchers examine automated driving systems (ADS), key factors affecting the industry, review the current state of automotive regulation in the United States, and then consider both hard and soft law solutions, ultimately concluding that using soft law makes the most sense at this time. The limits of industry consensus standards are considered, and the authors also make recommendations to regulators, industry and academia.
Carlos I. Gutierrez, Future of Life Institute
Institutional Review Boards as Soft Governance Mechanisms of R&D
In this paper, researcher Toni Lorente explores the potential use of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) as a potential governance mechanism to help address the risks and challenges associated with AI-based medical products.
Antoni Lorente, King’s College London, UK
Merger & Acquisition Agreements for Neurotechnologies: Building Governance into Tech
In this paper, the researchers suggest the mechanism of potentially extracting soft law-like commitments through the merger & acquisition agreement process for startups operating in the brain-computer (BCI) interface space, given their prominent role in discussions around neurotechnology governance.
Lucille Nalbach Tournas, J.D., Walter G. Johnson, J.D., Bennett Houck, Arizona State University
The George Mason University Law and Economics Center led an effort designed to encourage the development of new academic research that will form the foundation for enhanced analysis of the legal and economic issues involved in assessing self-regulation today. These papers were published in December 2022.
Self-Regulation in the Cradle: The Role of Standards in Emerging Industries
There is a long history of self-regulation—governance of firm behavior by private entities—both in the United States and globally, but there has been less attention to the role of self-regulation in spurring and enabling innovation and growth within emerging industries. Through a detailed case study, we examine the attributes of self-regulation that seem to support innovation and scaling up of operations.
Daniel Walters, Texas A&M University School of Law
Hannah Jacobs Wiseman, Penn State Law - University Park
No Perfect Solution for Market Imperfections
Both markets and government regulation are imperfect. Located between them is industry self-regulation, in which the industry is tasked with effectuating regulatory goals, which is also imperfect. Industry members, when called on to engage in self-regulation, will face what Austrian economists call the knowledge problem as well as a variety of public choice pressures. There are no perfect solutions so trade-offs must be weighed to obtain optimal outcomes.
Jeremy Kidd, Drake University Law School
Third-Party Standards and Sustainability Reporting: The Case of Minnesota Benefit Corporations
The appropriate boundary between public and private regulation has long been of interest to law and economics scholars. Especially relevant for understanding the private regulatory dynamics of the digital currency industry are the ways in which self-regulation has existed in financial markets.
David Lucas, Syracuse University
Corporate Governance and the Problem of Privileged Personal Knowledge: Toward a Theory of Decentralized Governance
This paper advances an epistemology-based argument for the decentralization of the (corporate) governance economic function drawn from a recent increase in decentralized approaches. However, while there is now evidence that it can work, a theoretical framework for explaining how they work or when and why they may be preferable to traditional governance practices has been lacking.
Mark Packard, Florida Atlantic University
Self-Regulation in Standard-Setting Organizations: Frand Royalties in the Process of Discovering Standards
Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) typically require their members to declare/disclose whether they hold or own SEPs, and to commit to licensing SEPs on FRAND terms. A main thesis of this article is that the meaning of a FRAND commitment is commonly understood by SSO members in the context of the particular standards and parties involved, and compliance is self-enforced through repeat dealing among SSO members. Read Now
Alexander Raskovich, Director of Research, Global Antitrust Institute | George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School
Digital Currency Industry Self-Regulation: Not All Consensus is Automatic
Sustainability reporting is an increasingly debated policy tool to facilitate accountability for businesses’ environmental and social impacts, particularly for hybrid ventures expressly pursuing both economic and social goals. The premise of this paper is that compliance in sustainability reporting is socially constructed, and that third-party organizations serve as legal intermediaries influencing how extensively hybrid ventures report their social impact.
Eric Alston, Scholar in Residence, University of Colorado Boulder
As economic and technological innovations accelerate, businesses must continue to work together to enhance consumer trust in a dynamic marketplace.
At the Center for Industry Self-Regulation, we believe that independent research and education are critical to incubating the solutions that will help us solve industry challenges and protect consumers. Your contribution helps make this important work possible.
The Center for Industry Self-Regulation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization.