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Seville will host the European Center for Algorithmic Transparency | technology



Spain will house the European Center for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT in its English acronym), one of the main tools of the European Union to ensure the proper functioning and control of illegal and harmful content on digital platforms and to provide greater protection of the fundamental rights of Internet users, which are the objectives of the Digital Services Directive (DSA), which is One of the great legislative commitments of the European Union, which comes into force tomorrow. Specifically, the new body will be based in the Joint Research Center (JRC) owned by the Commission in Seville.

“The main objective of ECAT is to promote greater knowledge and provide more transparency about the algorithmic systems behind digital services and will have a crucial role to play in EC regulation on large platforms and search engines. Online“, explains an official from Brussels. The center wants to start working in January 2023, and for this to happen during this week, the process of selecting its staff will be launched, highly qualified profiles in the field of computing, economics or sciences related to big data, in artificial intelligence, in Algorithms or in auditing and computational control. 20 positions will be called, which will be added to the 10 experts already appointed to advance the strengthening of ECAT. All of them will be based in Seville, although 10 of them will also transfer between Ispra (Italy) and Brussels, according to the Commission official.

ECAT has three main functions: To act as a technical support service for the Commission in compliance with the DSA. To be a vehicle for future knowledge and high-quality research; and promote the creation of a network around algorithmic transparency. The goal is to better understand how algorithmic systems work, why we recommend one type of content and not another, and why we get results in the particular order in our searches. Online… If we do that, we can anticipate and prevent some of the unwanted and negative effects of these algorithmic systems that may end up serving illegal or harmful content to certain groups, such as minors,” notes the European official.

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For the Commission, monitoring compliance with the new obligations imposed by the DSA on large digital platforms (those with more than 45 million users and representing 10% of the potential European market) is one of the main focuses of ECAT’s work. The researchers at the new EU center will have to analyze the self-assessment that Internet giants are required to make, according to the Directive regulations, to find out what risks these previously identified technology platforms and large search engines have been exposed to. They will also participate in audits and inspections ordered by Brussels to verify compliance with the law and will carry out a technical assessment of the process in practice of their algorithmic systems to determine whether these risks identified by the platforms are controlled and well addressed. “It is important to clarify that this type of work will not be carried out on its own initiative or independently, but will always be carried out under a mandate from the Commission,” the European official warned.

Brussels also wants ECAT to act as a bridge between the academic world, European and foreign research groups and institutes, and the business sector, within its potential research side. “The idea is that we can engage with both academia and industry to make sure we get the right methodology to make sure that algorithmic transparency is built into the design in the services offered to our citizens. Because we know that trust in the way our digital services work will also increase employment in the digital world.” says the UNHCR official.

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ECAT also wants to play an important role in publishing conclusions drawn from the entire investigation process. “It will ensure that research derived from his work can be readily available to the general public,” explains the official.

DSA is an ambitious and pioneering standard, as it is the first to seek to create a legal framework for the digital revolution, obliging big tech platforms to ensure transparency in their content moderation decisions and prevent unsafe or dangerous products from being offered on the market. Misinformation spreads quickly or reaches groups of people. Users exposed to this type of content. The European Union has not yet disclosed which companies fall under what it calls Large Digital Platforms (VLOPs), and those for which the directives require a higher level of transparency and accountability in this moderate content, as well as for advertising and algorithms and that impose an obligation to assess the risks presented by their systems in order to develop Administrative tools to protect the integrity of its services against tampering techniques. The EU will review the list of these large companies every six months.

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