Governments are increasingly deploying algorithmic systems to inform or take administrative acts of both individual and general nature. The use of algorithmic regulation often has the explicit aim of rendering the law’s implementation and enforcement more efficient, thereby seemingly contributing to the rule of law. At the same time, many examples unfortunately demonstrated that governments’ reliance on algorithmic regulation can hamper the rule of law, and even lead to a rule by law approach instead. In this lecture, Nathalie Smuha will examine whether and to which extent algorithmic regulation can be reconciled with the rule of law, pointing out the challenges that need to be considered. She will discuss the interwovenness of the rule of law with human rights and democracy, and the need to protect these values in algorithmic context, not only from an individual- but also a societal-interest perspective. Finally, she will argue that more attention should be paid to the impact of algorithmic regulation on society’s normative, political and legal infrastructure, especially in the long term.

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