2024 - 2025 Events
Free Speech and/or Democracy? The NetzDG Discourse on Twitter
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 | 12 - 1 p.m. | King Hall, Rm 1301 | Livestream
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has recently taken up core elements of a controversially discussed German anti-hate speech law called the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG). The primary discourse about NetzDG was filled with fears of overblocking assuming that a law that was intended to reduce hate speech and protect minorities’ right to freedom of expression could eventually lead to censorship and threaten democracy. The EU’s decision to take up the NetzDG approach indicates a substantial deviation from existing US free speech values and from previous methods of regulating potentially illegal/harmful speech on social media platforms. For these reasons, the public NetzDG discourse is an ideal object of study with which to examine recent shifts in the EU’s digital policy agenda and the ways in which important stakeholders view these developments and position their concerns within public negotiation processes.
Jens Pohlmann is a faculty member in Science and Technology Studies at UC Davis. He received his Ph.D. in German Studies from Stanford University and his MA from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research focuses on the public discourse about platform regulation and free speech, particularly on the discussion about an anti-hate-speech law called the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) in Germany and Section 230 CDA in the United States. Based on the examination of newspaper articles, websites, and social media posts, he studies the stakeholders and narratives that shape these conversations and analyzes how highly technical, specialist legal discourses concerning the regulation of online speech are disseminated and translated into discussions in broader society.
In this talk, I will present research on the discourse about NetzDG on Twitter/X based on a social network analysis that focuses on retweets as indicators of relevance and grouped users based on their retweet activity. I will discuss our findings regarding the most influential stakeholders in these debates and position our overall research project as a method to gain insights into the interested parties, their communicative strategies, and the “sociotechnical imaginaries” (Jasanoff 2025) that underpin their narratives. The discourse in question is a great example of a technological and legal expert topic that suddenly receives a lot of media attention and then gets translated and distributed for discussion in broader society. I am particularly interested in the communicative strategies that are (more or less successfully) applied in such dissemination processes.
*MCLE Credits Offered
Innovating Legal Contracting with Technology: A Conversation with Tiffany Bui Letourneau
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 | 12 - 1 p.m. | King Hall, Rm 1301 | Livestream
Join us for an exciting talk with Tiffany Bui LeTourneau, Head of Legal at Common Paper, as she shares her expertise in shaping the future of legal contracting. Tiffany has played an instrumental role in building legal frameworks at groundbreaking tech companies like Uber and Lime. Now, at Common Paper, she is revolutionizing the industry by combining open-sourced agreements with AI to streamline legal processes. Learn about her unique career path, the intersection of law and technology, and the future of legal compliance in fast-paced industries.
Tiffany has spent her entire career at the intersection of business and technology, counseling technology companies and start-ups on a variety of legal matters. Currently, she is serving as Head of Legal at Common Paper, where she is applying her experience to building the future of legal contracting. Through the establishment of open sourced, industry standard agreements combined with software and AI, Common Paper allows companies to move swiftly while maintaining accurate, structured data, thereby enabling nimble legal compliance. Prior to Common Paper, Tiffany was a Senior Director at Lime, where she built the transactions, product, privacy, and intellectual property functions. Before that, Tiffany was a founding member of Uber’s transactional legal team, where, among other career highlights, she enabled a nascent food delivery product to grow into what is now UberEats. She started her career in Big Law, working at Reed Smith and Gunderson Dettmer.
*MCLE credits will be offered
AI Year in Review and a Brief Look Ahead to 2025
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025 | 12 - 1 p.m. | King Hall, Rm 1002 | Livestream
Join CILS for an insightful program reviewing the most significant legal developments in artificial intelligence over the past year and exploring what lies ahead in 2025. This session will focus on key AI-related legislation and regulatory updates at the state level (with a particular emphasis on California), examine federal developments, and provide a brief overview of notable international trends. Gain valuable insights into how evolving AI laws and policies may shape the future.
John Pavolotsky practices in the San Francisco office of Stoel Rives, LLP and focuses on data privacy, information security, and complex technology transactions. He advises a broad range of clients on general compliance, use of new(er) technologies such as AI, data incidents, and breach response. He also counsels clients on privacy, security, and intellectual property matters in M&A transactions. John is the immediate past chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the California Lawyers Association. John is a graduate of King Hall (2000), served on the King Hall Alumni Board (2013-2019), and taught Technology Transactions Law (2019) at King Hall.