Values-based Governance

• Duration: 2024 – 2027
• Project lead: Dr. Rebecca Scharlach

Funded by: Zentrale Forschungsförderung (ZF), Universität Bremen

Project Overview

My postdoctoral project “Values-based Governance: European approaches to AI regulation” examines how values and ideologies shape the governance of AI systems in the European Union. Over the past year, the project has evolved to focus more specifically on how values are articulated, negotiated, and institutionalized within emerging AI regulatory frameworks and industry practices. Through comparative policy analysis, expert interviews, and focus groups, I aim to investigate how normative principles, such as transparency, accountability, and innovation, are embedded in European approaches to AI regulation, and how they shape the interplay between technology, governance, and society.

Output 

Publications 

Taylor Annabell, Robert Gorwa, Rebecca Scharlach, Jacob van de Kerkhof, Thales Bertaglia (2025, Preprint) TikTok Search Recommendations: Governance and Research Challenges. Procceedings ICWSM 2025 The 1st international Workshop on Computational Approaches to Content Moderation and Platform Governance. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08385

In Progress 

Rebecca Scharlach, CJ Reynolds, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Blake Hallinan, & Christian Katzenbach. The devil is in the details: The politics of value specification in AI governance. Under review.

Presentations 

2025

Platform Governance Research Network, Annual Conference (Online). “Between Bright Futures and Regulatory Oversight: Techno-Optimism in European AI Governance” Author: Rebecca Scharlach 

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Annual Conference in Niteroi, Brasil. “Where Do We Go From Here? Part II – Lessons from the AoIR Flashpoint Symposium on AI & Platform Governance.” Roundtable. Rebecca Scharlach (Organizer)  Taylor Annabell, Blake Hallinan, Emillie de Keulnenaar and Thales Lelo.

The first joint conference of the Digital Communication division of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) and the Human-Machine Communication interest group of the International Communication Association (ICA) in Dresden, DE. “The Devil is in the Details: Specifications of Governing Principles in Private & Public AI Governance.” Authors: Rebecca Scharlach,  CJ Reynolds, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Christian Katzenbach, Blake Hallinan.

“Between bright futures and regulatory oversight: How European tech governance establishes its own vision of techno-optimism” Working group The public consciousness of IT workers and its implications for democracy, Centre for Advanced Internet Studies, Bochum, Germany. Author: Rebecca Scharlach 

The 75^th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) in Denver, USA. “The Devil is in the Details: Specifications of Governing Principles in Private & Public AI Governance.” Authors: Rebecca Scharlach,  CJ Reynolds, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Christian Katzenbach, Blake Hallinan.

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Flashpoint Symposium 2025 in Bremen, DE. “Competing priorities: Identifying value gaps between the public and private governance of social media platforms.” Authors: Rebecca Scharlach,  CJ Reynolds, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Christian Katzenbach, Blake Hallinan.

AlgoSoc International Conference 2025: The Future of Public Values in the Algorithmic Society in Amsterdam, NL. “Competing priorities: Identifying value gaps between the public and private governance of social media platforms.” Authors: Rebecca Scharlach,  CJ Reynolds, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, Christian Katzenbach, Blake Hallinan.

2024

“Values-based governance.” Panel: Platforms, Content Moderation and Social (Dis)Order: Transformations of Platforms and Their Governance (Organizer: Christian Katzenbach). (Pre-Constituted Panel). ECREA 2024, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Author: Rebecca Scharlach