Dr. Tobias Mast co-heads the program area Communication Structures and Their Governance. His team examines the conditions that shape communication structures and how these structures can be influenced through legal and technical means in the public interest.
After studying law at the University of Freiburg, specialising in information and media law, he completed his doctorate at the HBI. His interdisciplinary dissertation examined governance communication. He completed his legal traineeship at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, with placements including the Hamburg Regional Court’s press law chamber, an international commercial law firm and the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). He subsequently worked as a clerk at the German Federal Constitutional Court.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of Verfassungsblog and is pursuing his habilitation at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz under the supervision of Professor Matthias Bäcker. He also teaches at the University of Hamburg and serves as an examiner for the state examination in Law.
In January 2024, he was appointed as an expert to the German Bundestag on the German Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz implementing Germany’s obligations under the EU Digital Services Act. In July 2024, the German Bundestag elected him to the Advisory Board of the German Digital Services Coordinator at the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur); he was re-elected in October 2025.
Publications, courses and lectures by Tobias Mast (as of May 2026, in German)
