CPDP Panel Photo: Isabelle Pérignon isabelle (European Commission), Linn Høgåsen (Forbrukerrådet), Felix H. (Mastodon) and Vid Logar (independent expert)
Article 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. Text
Eye spying someone through a smartphone
Report ‘Democracy on Wiretap’ Report Spyware today is one of the most significant threats to democracy, human rights, and cybersecurity in the European Union and worldwide. Text
Photo of participants in the EP Hearing
Article DSA vs. Reality: Are children safer online? What needs to be done to make social media a safer space for people of all ages? Text
Article Limits to harmful surveillance in online advertising? Joint statement ahead of the vote in the European Parliament next week “We don’t have to manipulate our customers or exploit their vulnerabilities to scale up” – European entrepreneurs and social organizations appeal to the MEPs to put an end to invasive and privacy-hostile practices related to surveillance-based advertising and thus open the market to ethical and… Text
Article Webinar: Alternative recommender systems in the DSA [recording] Facebook Files provided yet another confirmation that the company's extremely profitable recommender systems come at a high price paid by vulnerable individuals and our societies. Algorithms optimised for engagement amplify toxic content, such as hate speech or disinformation, and target humans… Text
Report Algorithms of trauma: new case study shows that Facebook doesn’t give users real control over disturbing surveillance ads A case study examined by Panoptykon Foundation and showcased by the Financial Times, demonstrates how Facebook uses algorithms to deliver personalised ads that may exploit users’ mental vulnerabilities. The experiment shows that users are unable to get rid of disturbing content: disabling sensitive… Text
Article Big Tech platforms are hurting us. 50 organisations urge the EU to #fixalgorithms The list of negative consequences of how dominant online platforms shape our experience online is neither short nor trivial. From exploiting users’ vulnerabilities, triggering psychological trauma, depriving people of job opportunities to pushing disturbing content to others, these are just some… Text
Article Mozilla Explains: What Does AI Know About Me? Algorithmic decision-making can carry more weight than you might expect. While algorithms do innocuous or helpful things like changing the traffic signals when you approach an intersection, they also decide what content to show in your social media feed. There are also algorithms that assist real… Text
Article Can the EU Digital Services Act contest the power of Big Tech’s algorithms? A progressive report on the Digital Services Act (DSA) adopted by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) in the European Parliament in July is the first major improvement of the draft law presented by the European Commission in December. MEPs expressed support for default… Text
Article Who will not be blocked by Facebook? SIN wins the first court battle The District Court in Warsaw (Appellate Division) upheld its interim measures ruling from 2019 in which it temporarily prohibited Facebook from removing fan pages, run by the Polish NGO “SIN”, on Facebook and Instagram, as well as from blocking individual posts. This means that – until the case is… Text
Article ePrivacy – open letter to the European Parliament from 30 rights organisations We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, when it comes to the ePrivacy Regulation, on which work began in 2017. Text
Article Campaign against surveillance: Nobody will tell you when they will follow you On 22 March 2021, a group of journalists and activists published a letter they had received from the non-existent “Agency of National Security” on their social media profiles, informing them that they were subject to surveillance. The letter was accompanied by a message notifying them that it is… Text