The EU Model of Digital Trust: A Kantian View on EU’s Recommendation of Citizens’ Trust in the GDPR

The European Commission has argued that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted in 2018 created a solid framework of digital trust. This paper critically examines the statement. Firstly, a Kantian approach to trust is outlined. In the second section, key aspects of the historical development of commercial trade in personal data and the regulatory efforts of the EU are analyzed. The third part of the paper considers the concept of consent both as a philosophical concept and as the main legal tool for protecting citizens’ data, arguing that the idea that citizens are able to make rational and informed choices about consent to sharing of data is currently fictitious. The final section draws on the Kantian conception of trust to evaluate the EU’s efforts to enable trustworthy data stewardship for its citizens in the digital information environment. The Kantian analysis concludes that even though the GDPR has the potential to supply citizens with trustworthy data protection, its enforcement procedures as well as the 2025 proposed amendments to the GDPR work against trustworthy data stewardship.