This paper examines which combinations of factors contribute to internet regulatory agencies' informal autonomy from corporate interests, building on a qualitative comparative analysis and interviews with senior officials.
Research Articles
About
Internet Policy Review is an open access and peer-reviewed journal on internet regulation.
Scholars, regulators, journalists, activists, and other stakeholders publish in the journal in
Research articles
- In-depth scholarly research papers and essays
Concepts
- Critical reflections on emerging core concepts of the digital society
Editorials
- Contextual or thematic introductions to special issues
Essays
- Free-form yet in-depth contentions with issues of academic or social relevance
News
- Journalistic reports on events of interest to the Internet Policy Review community
Opinions
- Opinion pieces commenting on developments in the realm of internet policy
Open Abstract
- Extended abstracts for works in progress that receive public peer review
peer reviewed
not peer reviewed
Recent Special issues
This introduction situates Digital Solidarity Economies (DSE) as an analytical and practical framework for reimagining the digital economy through cooperation, mutual aid, and shared ownership.
By opening the craft of interdisciplinary method to more explicit scrutiny, this special issue provides a novel space to examine how knowledge in the domains of cybersecurity, privacy, and digital rights governance is made, contested, and reshaped.
Call for papers
Abstract submission deadline: 15 Oct 2025
News and Opinion Pieces
Wikipedia was built on the premise that open knowledge benefits everyone. Generative AI has exposed the flaw in that bargain: openness without reciprocity turns a public good into a private extraction layer.
The “exit penalty”: Why the DMA’s interoperability rules fail the reality test of platform migration
The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is designed to empower users with the ability to freely switch between digital platforms. However, my 2026 migration experiment from Apple’s iOS to Google’s Android in Japan reveals a stark contrast between legal provisions and practical realities.
Formats in our Journal
- Research articlesIn-depth scholarly research papers and essays
- ConceptsCritical reflections on emerging core concepts of the digital society
- EditorialsContextual or thematic introductions to special issues
peer reviewed
not peer reviewed
- EssaysFree-form yet in-depth contentions with issues of academic or social relevance
- NewsJournalistic reports on events of interest to the Internet Policy Review community
- OpinionsOpinion pieces commenting on developments in the realm of internet policy
Concepts and Glossary terms
Special Sections
Two special sections of Internet Policy Review
How does resistance evolve under the pressure of datafication? People adopt defensive and productive tactics to resist the harms and risks of a data-driven society.
Further Research Articles
Baby-tracking apps promise to help parents, this reveals how baby-tracking apps transform intimate caregiving into a site of cross-border data extraction, profiling, and policy non-compliance.
Drawing on cutting-edge social media research, the authors explain why vetted researchers need to be granted broad access to social media data to meet the objectives of the DSA.
The concept of the "superplatform" presents a simple way to describe Google’s vast and complex online ad business as a dual-core system that merges market power, infrastructural dominance, and supply chain demarketisation.
This article examines the applicability of the Digital Services Act (DSA) to ChatGPT, arguing that it should be classified as a hybrid of the two types of hosting services: online search engines and platforms.
In this paper, the authors discuss the implications of regulated data access under the European Digital Services Act for election research.
Governments around the world pressure internet companies to get informally what they cannot obtain through formal regulatory channels, a pervasive mechanism of governance that challenges fundamental democratic priors.
