The HBI participated in the discussion on the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) with five expert reports, some in German and some in English. A working paper available for download now gathers these texts by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz, PD Dr. Matthias C Kettemann and Amélie Pia Heldt.
You can download here: Schulz, W., Kettemann, M. C., & Heldt, A. P. (2019). Probleme und Potenziale des NetzDG – ein Reader mit fünf HBI-Expertisen [Problems and Potentials of the NetzDG – A Reader with Five HBI Experts Opinions]. Arbeitspapiere des Hans-Bredow-Instituts. https://doi.org/10.21241/SSOAR.71727
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The NetzDG has been fully in force since January 2018 and aims to fight hate speech and other criminal content on social platforms of a certain size. The law provides for reporting obligations and an effective complaints management system, but it has also met with some criticism both in the scientific community and in practice.
The Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) has taken the opportunity to provide scientific input for the conception, implementation and reform phases of the NetzDG. With Wolfgang Schulz and Matthias C. Kettemann, two institute members were invited as experts in various phases of the parliamentary debate on the law.
This working paper brings together five contributions from Wolfgang Schulz, Matthias C. Kettemann and Amélie Heldt, which were published in 2018-2019 or were prepared for hearings and address the NetzDG from different perspectives:
- Wolfgang Schulz’s contribution Regulating Intermediaries to Protect Privacy Online – the Case of the German NetzDGwas the first English-language analysis of the law and was widely read worldwide.
- On the occasion of the Internet Governance Forum (Germany) 2018 in Berlin, Matthias C. Kettemann was invited by the Center on Deliberative Democracy of Stanford University to produce “Balanced Briefing Materials” to objectify the discussion about the NetzDG.
- Amélie Pia Heldt’s 2019 article examines the first reports by intermediaries after the NetzDG.
- Matthias C. Kettemann prepared a statement as an expert for the public hearing on the Network Enforcement Act at the invitation of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection of the German Bundestag in May 2019.
- Matthias C. Kettemann has also written an analysis for the Council of Europe that provides an overview of the handling of illegal Internet content in Germany 2016-2019.