This course explores the law and regulation of digital media from the perspective of content creators, understood broadly as both organisations and individuals, such as vloggers, podcasters, and influencers. Digital technologies and participatory media have significantly changed and broadened the media landscape formerly dominated by radio, television and newspaper publishers. Questions of whether and to what extent digital-born content creators need to respect the same regulations and standards as legacy content producers remain open.  

This course will engage with variety of legal fields to grasp the core challenges faced by content creators. This may include for example, media law, intellectual property law, information law, consumer law and platform regulation. The students will be exposed to and engage with some of the key legal debates concerning digital media in the UK, EU and the world. Following the examination of legal issues relevant for the digital media in general, the course will explore a set of content creators case studies.

10 x 2-hour seminars

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An essay of no more than 4500 words (100%) providing a critical assessment of a given issue from the perspective of a chosen digital media creator or a category of digital media creators.

The principle aim of this course is to provide students with legal knowledge and critical understanding of challenges and opportunities faced by the digital content creators. The course offers students an opportunity to reflect on the role the law plays in professional lives of specific categories of content creators, including but not limited to vloggers, streamers, podcasters, lifestyle influencers, and graphic designers.

Further aims are to:

■ Develop knowledge and understanding of the digital media ecosystem and its main actors;

■ Provide students with an opportunity to analyse how the law applies to the activities of digital media creators;

■ Foster critical thinking and reflection skills in applying theoretical concepts from literature to real-world case studies;

■ Identify and evaluate the key legal and regulatory issues raised by the new role of digital content creators;

■ Encourage independent learning and research.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Identify and discuss the main rules governing digital media;

■ Evaluate the effectiveness of legal regulation from the perspective of digital media creators;

■ Construct coherent arguments on the application of key legal concepts to hypothetical scenarios involving digital content creators;

■ Critically engage with and assess contemporary legal debates concerning digital content creation.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.