Regarding the nature and characteristics of legal regulation of private relations in the digital environment

The article is devoted to the study of the nature of the digital environment as a social phenomenon and legal category, as well as the peculiarities of legal regulation of private relations in this environment. Based on an analysis of Ukrainian doctrine and legislation, in particular the Law of Ukraine “On Digital Content and Digital Services,” the evolution of the concept of “digital environment” from a doctrinal idea to its legal consolidation is examined. The legal categories of “digital environment,” “cyberspace,” and “metaverse” are compared in national law and legal doctrine, EU law, US law, Chinese law, and international legal discourse. It is shown that international law and EU law are dominated by the category of “cyberspace,” which is focused primarily on public law (security) aspects, while in Ukrainian law, the digital environment is gradually becoming the basic framework for regulating private law relations regarding digital things: digital content, digital services, and virtual assets. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of the metaverse as a special segment of the digital environment with a high level of immersion and permanence of virtual spaces. The approaches of the EU, the US, and China to regulating digital platforms, cybersecurity, data, and the metaverse, as well as their impact on models for regulating private relations, have been analyzed. It is noted that the most promising model for Ukraine is one that combines the European approach to protecting human and consumer rights in the digital environment with the doctrinal development of digital objects, digital rights, and digital jurisdiction. It is pointed out that the existing legal definition of the “digital environment” does not fully reflect the entirety and characteristics of this socio-legal phenomenon. A list of characteristics inherent in the digital environment as a socio-legal phenomenon and reflecting the peculiarities of its nature is proposed, in particular: socio-technological nature, transborder (transjurisdictional) nature, subject-oriented dimension, high dynamism and technological determinism of changes, and others. The need to harmonize regulatory and scientific approaches, further systematic modernization of civil legislation, and implementation of the concept of digital constitutionalism and digital rights into the national legal order is emphasized.