Ai and Media Law

The first part of the course will be dedicated to the discipline and limits of the freedom of speech and the right to inform in the Italian Constitution, in the International Declarations of Rights and in the European Union, as well as to the relationship between media and democracy.

The principal focus will be on the Italian and European law regulating media (press, radio, television, internet, social media) and the regulation of bodies operating in the communications system.

Special attention will be devoted to some current issues: freedom of the press online, criticism and satire, privacy and personal identity, right to oblivion, the commercial speech, copyright.

A special focus will be devoted to the discipline of the Internet: the online liability regime, anonymity, the protection of online content, fake news and disinformation, hate speech, the role of digital platforms in controlling and removing illegal content, data protection, the relationship between technology and democracy.

This will be done mainly by examining jurisprudential cases from Italian, European and foreign courts.

The second part will be dedicated to the influence of AI in the world of law and, in particular, in media law.

The analysis will be focused on the influence of machine learning systems in the sphere of communication and information, as well as on the threats to fundamental rights but also the advantages that AI can bring to the protection and promotion of rights. The first attempts at regulation will then be examined, especially those provided by the European Union, such as the European Union AI Act.

In particular, it will be studied both the algorithms that select, sort or remove content (e.g. the algorithms of Facebook or Google) and those capable of creating content (e.g. Chat GPT).

The relationship between Artificial Intelligence and data protection and the debate on automated decision-making in the GDPR will then be analysed.