Panoptykon at CPDP 2026: Fair, sovereign and authentically personalised. A benchmark for digital services made in Europe

Panoptykon will be present at the CPDP conference in Brussels this season with a panel on digital fairness and consumer empowerment. Panoptykon’s president Katarzyna Szymielewicz will lead the discussion featuring DG Justice and Norwegian Consumer Council. The panel will look at emerging policy opportunities, including the Digital Fairness Act, to bring more fairness, consumer choice, and resilience in the digital space.

More details and the names of panelists – coming soon!

Panoptykon has explored legal and technological solutions to protect vulnerable individuals, and society at large, from harms caused by online platforms’ recommender systems optimised for short-term profit. Read Katarzyna Szymielewicz pieces on recommender systems and social media interoperability recently published on DSA Observatory website.

The 19th edition of the CPDP will take place on May 19-22 2026 in Brussels (Belgium). Register at the official CPDP website

Official description of the panel

The internet that we used to know is dying. Global technological companies, colloquially known as “Big Tech”, have entrenched their dominance across a vast range of digital services – from social media and search engines to cloud infrastructure and generative artificial intelligence. They have normalized business models which in many cases are incompatible with fundamental rights, such as the collection and use of vast amounts of personal data for advertising and unfair personalisation. Their platforms – once advertised as “social media” – chose to prioritise short term user engagement over long term consumer value. As a result of this choice, these services are exploited in the cognitive war and pose public security risks.

Confronted with these risks, European consumers seek safer and healthier alternatives. Decentralized and interoperable platforms – such as Mastodon – are growing too and start experimenting with fair personalisation.

In this panel we will look at emerging policy opportunities, including the Digital Fairness Act, and market incentives to bring more fairness, consumer choice, competition and resilience in the digital space.