Platform regulation from the bottom up: Judicial redress in the United States and China

In: Policy & internet, Band 14, Heft 2, S. 368-389

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years both the United States and China have introduced data protection and cybersecurity frameworks to address the social, economic, and political challenges posed by the platform economy. While much of the discourse has focused on the implementation of these frameworks through top‐down, centrally administered institutions, little discussion has turned to the role of platform regulation from the bottom up—that is, the ability of individuals to affect corporate behavior through the courts as litigants. This paper attempts to address that gap by offering a comparative analysis of the role of data protection litigation in both the United States and China as one institutional mechanism through which governments may pursue their larger regulatory goals. Privacy and data protection laws in both countries grant individuals enforceable rights against other private and public actors. While litigants in the United States and China face barriers to affect corporate behavior, they do so for notable dissimilar reasons due to the unique and historical differences of the legal systems in both countries. Despite these differences, courts in both the United States and China will play an increasingly important role in platform regulation