The Digital Ministry has presented a bill to combat hate, violence and identity abuse online. Platforms should be held more accountable.
With a new law, the federal government wants to make Internet platforms more obligated to combat illegal content in the future. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport added a draft for a “Digital Services Act”.. The draft law supplements the so-called Digital Services Act (DSA) of the EU for Germany.
According to the announcement, Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) said: “We have given ourselves clear rules in Europe so that every citizen can be safe and free on the Internet. What is forbidden offline must also be online. The platform operators also bear responsibility here to intervene in the event of insults, incitement to violence or identity abuse.”
coordination office in the Federal Network Agency
The law modernizes the legal framework for digital services in Germany and regulates fines and penalties for violations of the DSA. For platform operators, for example, these could be sanctioned with up to six percent of their annual turnover. If online services do not meet their obligations, users can report this to the Federal Network Agency.
The draft provides for a central coordination point in the Federal Network Agency for digital services in Germany. It is to be supplemented by other competent authorities in the areas of data protection and youth protection. The new obligations for online services should also be consistently enforced in Germany.
Federal states and associations can now comment on the ministry’s draft bill.
Pop: “There must be no official ping-pong”
While the provisions for very large online platforms and search engines with over 45 million users are already in force and will be enforced directly by the EU Commission, the rules for smaller services will only apply from February 2024, according to the Ministry. Supervision takes place here in the respective member states.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) called for the rules to be enforced effectively. “There must be no official ping-pong when looking for the right contact person,” explained vzbv boss Ramona Pop. Functioning supervision is crucial in order to strengthen the position of users vis-à-vis providers.
Several services classified as “major platforms”.
In April, the EU Commission classified Twitter – now renamed X – Facebook, Tiktok, several Google services and others as “very large online platforms” and “very large online search engines” under the Digital Services Act.
You have to meet particularly strict rules against illegal content in the EU. The act is intended to ensure that platforms remove illegal content from their sites faster than before.