ECAT keynote at Recsys 2026

ECAT Researcher Erasmo Purificato will deliver a keynote at RecSoGood 2026, part of the 20th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys). This will take place on the afternoon of 2 October in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Keynote title: Unpacking Fairness in Recommendations: Statistical Guarantees, User Control, and Collective Resistance

Keynote abstract:

As recommender systems shape modern information ecosystems, aligning them with sustainability and social responsibility requires moving beyond heuristic controls toward provable safeguards. While platforms increasingly rely on explicit user feedback to mitigate harmful or unwanted recommendations, creating systems that are simultaneously fair, safe, and resilient against manipulation remains a open challenge.
In this keynote, we explore the frontiers of responsible recommendation through the lens of conformal risk control, a framework offering statistical, distribution-free safety guarantees for user feeds. We examine how rigorous risk bounds can empower individual user control while preserving overall recommendation utility. Building on these foundational principles, we then dive into the broader social and adversarial dynamics surrounding safety mechanisms. We discuss how coordinated collective action can unintentionally or strategically exploit global safety thresholds to degrade system fairness, and how personalizing risk guarantees can restore systemic resilience. Finally, we outline key open directions for building sustainable recommendation ecosystems that effectively balance individual agency, algorithmic fairness, and policy requirements.

You can find out more about RecSoGood here and RecSys 2026 here.