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.

When: 20 May, 16:00-17:15
Where: CLASS ROOM, Maison de la Poste, Brussels

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.

Speakers

Isabelle Pérignon, a French national, is Director for ‘Consumer policy' at the European Commission since October 2023. She was for four years (2019-2023) the Deputy Head of Cabinet of the former Commissioner for Justice. Before this position, she worked as Head of Unit ‘Procedural criminal law' at the European Commission. Ms Pérignon was also a member of the Cabinet of several Commissioners, including Commissioner for Values and Transparency, the Czech Vera Jourova and former Commissioner for Home Affairs, the Swedish Cécilia Malmström.

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Isabelle Pérignon, Director for ‘Consumer policy' at the European Commission, speaker at CPDP 2026

Before joining the Commission in 2003, Isabelle Perignon was a solicitor specialising in EU law and was a member of the French and Belgian bars. She worked at Baker McKenzie law firm under the supervision of Ms Christine Lagarde. She holds a Master's Degree in European Legal Studies (LLM College of Europe) and a Master in Business Studies.

Linn Høgåsen is a senior digital policy officer at the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC), working on issues related to consumer rights, advertising, AI, data protection, and children’s rights. She has co-authored reports on subjects such as enshittification, deceptive design/dark patterns, generative AI and commercial exploitation of children. Many of the projects have involved international partners through the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD).

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Linn Høgåsen, Senior digital policy officer, Norwegian Consumer Council, speaker at CPDP 2026

Vid Logar is a privacy-minded software engineer. He has a strong interest in the intersection of technology and policy, where he explores how regulatory ideas can be translated into real, implementable systems. His recent work has focused on messaging interoperability and client neutrality. He is also exploring how to improve communication identifiers and social graph portability. He is a co-author of policy briefs on service-to-client interoperability and algorithmic pluralism as a consumer protection measures.

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Vid Logar, a privacy-minded software engineer, speaker at CPDP 2026 

Felix Hlatky is Executive Director, Board Director and Treasurer of Mastodon, a real alternative to (anti-)socialmedia, as we used to call it at Panoptykon. He is an accomplished financial and operational leader with over a decade of experience as a CEO and CFO. As Mastodon’s first non-technical hire, he has spent more than five years shaping the organisation’s financial and operational strategy while remaining true to its community-driven mission. He helped Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko to incorporate the German non-profit entity and is a co-founder and board member of Mastodon’s US entity, Mastodon Inc., which has 501(c)(3) status. He is passionate about sustainable growth and ethical business practices and has a deep commitment to open-source principles.

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Felix Hlatky, Executive Director, Mastodon, speaker at CPDP 2026