In his latest blog post, Raphaël Gellert, Assistant Professor in Private Law and ICT at Radboud University, delves into the concept of digital vulnerability, a notion widely accepted in the realms of data protection, e-commerce, product liability, and cybersecurity. Writing for the workshop on Social Justice and Private Law in Europe, Gellert critically examines how digital vulnerability and its associated concept, digital fairness, often perpetuate neoliberal ideals of market efficiency rather than challenging them.

Gellert proposes an alternative perspective through an ecological approach to contract law. By shifting the focus from market-driven logics to more nuanced, critical understandings of vulnerability, his work opens the door to rethinking how law interacts with the digital age’s challenges. The piece encourages readers to move beyond surface-level interpretations of fairness and explore frameworks that prioritize social justice in the digital marketplace.

Read the full blog post here.