Europe spins up AI research hub to apply accountability rules on Big Tech

Seville, Spain-based algorithmic transparency center to support enforcement of EU's Digital Services Act.

 

As the European Union gears up to enforce a major reboot of its digital rulebook in a matter of months, a new dedicated research unit is being spun up to support oversight of large platforms under the bloc’s flagship Digital Services Act (DSA).

The European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT), which was officially inaugurated in Seville, Spain, today, is expected to play a major role in interrogating the algorithms of mainstream digital services — such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

ECAT is embedded within the EU’s existing Joint Research Centre (JRC), a long-established science facility that conducts research in support of a broad range of EU policymaking, from climate change and crisis management to taxation and health sciences. But while the ECAT is embedded within the JRC — and temporarily housed in the same austere-looking building (Seville’s World Trade Centre), ahead of getting more open-plan bespoke digs in the coming years — it has a dedicated focus on the DSA, supporting lawmakers to gather evidence to build cases so they can act on any platforms that don’t take their obligations seriously.