Users of online services are being increasingly empowered through the provision of more information and transparency than ever before, thanks to the GDPR’s rules on transparency now being joined by obligations under the DSA and AI Act amongst others. But with this increasing transparency comes increasing demand for limited space on user’s screens. Notices like “why are you seeing this content”, “this is an advertisement”, and “this is AI-generated content” could all appear together on one screen to satisfy different but equally important obligations. All of these messages are important tools for user trust, safety and digital agency. But innovation and flexibility in the design and delivery of such information is needed to avoid a ‘real estate crisis’ for space on user screens, as well as information fatigue. This roundtable seeks to stimulate a discussion across disciplines on the need to maintain user awareness and engagement via online design across an increasingly crowded set of regulatory obligations, how innovation in transparency notification for user good can be encouraged and supported technically, and the importance of clear regulatory endorsement of any new, user-friendly approaches that comply innovatively with requirements. We invite representatives from legal, compliance, technological, academic and regulatory perspectives to attend an open discussion to develop an articulation of the challenge and potential ways forward.
