{"id":10216,"date":"2021-12-15T11:31:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T10:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/?post_type=hbi-publications&#038;p=10216"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:36:18","slug":"much-ado-about-little","status":"publish","type":"hbi-publications","link":"https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/much-ado-about-little\/","title":{"rendered":"Much Ado about Little"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"description\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4496 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Teaser-Desinformation-Corona-Fake-News-300x193.png\" alt=\"Cover: Responding to the COVID-19 \u2018infodemic\u2019\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Teaser-Desinformation-Corona-Fake-News-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Teaser-Desinformation-Corona-Fake-News-768x494.png 768w, https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Teaser-Desinformation-Corona-Fake-News.png 840w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>In their contribution to a collection of papers by The Hague Program for Cyber Norms and Leiden University, <a href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/staff\/matthias-c-kettemann\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/staff\/martin-fertmann\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Martin Fertmann<\/a> explain how disinformation about COVID-19 is addressed in Germany and what legal questions arise in this context.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl\/access\/item%3A3257098\/view\">Download the collection here (PDF)<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Abstract<\/h2>\n<p>Throughout the pandemic, Germany has taken a careful stance in responding to influence\u00a0 operations. Historically, it is not disinformation but hate speech that has taken the front and\u00a0 center position in the German platform regulation discourse. The notion that the process of political opinion formation is supposed to be free from state intervention (Staatsferne des Meinungsbildungsprozesses) is valued as a key element of Germany\u2019s constitutional order, coupled with clear rules against specific types of serious antisemitic and other qualified hate speech and\u00a0 dehumanising expressions. Outside of illegal expressions, too large an influence of domestic\u00a0 authorities on the process of negotiating the rules of information behaviour is viewed as an even greater risk to the country\u2019s liberal democracy than the risks associated with foreign influence operations.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kettemann, M. C.; Fertmann, M. (2021): Germany: Much Ado about Little. In: V\u00e9riter, S.; Kaminska, M.; Broeders, D.; Koops, J. (eds.): Responding to the COVID-19 \u2018Infodemic\u2019: National Countermeasures to Information Influence in Europe (The Hague: The Hague Program for Cyber Norms. December 2021), pp. 27-32, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehaguecybernorms.nl\/research-and-publication-posts\/responding-to-the-covid-19-infodemic-national-countermeasures-against-information-influence-in-europe\">https:\/\/www.thehaguecybernorms.nl\/research-and-publication-posts\/responding-to-the-covid-19-infodemic-national-countermeasures-against-information-influence-in-europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2433,"template":"","tags":[398],"class_list":["post-10216","hbi-publications","type-hbi-publications","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-miscellaneous"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.6 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Much Ado about Little - Leibniz HBI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newws.leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-publications\/much-ado-about-little\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Much Ado about Little\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In their contribution to a collection of papers by The Hague Program for Cyber Norms and Leiden University, Prof. Dr. Matthias C. 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