Federal Council does not want a law against fake news for the time being

Due to the "still unclear overall situation", the Federal Council is leaving open the question of whether state regulation is needed. At the moment, it is relying on self-regulation in the sector and is monitoring developments, as it writes in a report published on Wednesday. This is a new assessment of the situation following the report "Legal basis for social media" published in 2013. Fake news and social bots - programs that generate such news disguised as real people - were not yet an issue at the time. Now, however, the Federal Council has recognized the manipulation of public opinion through misinformation as a danger. Traditional measures such as libel suits, action against unfair competition or the enforcement of personal rights are of little help. It is often impossible to identify the authors and even rarer to hold them accountable.

Only at the beginning

The EU and individual European countries have therefore decided to take targeted countermeasures. The EU Council, for example, wants to correct Russian disinformation campaigns. In Germany, there are discussions about obliging platform operators to delete obviously false information. "The debate about possible protective measures is only just beginning," writes the Federal Council. For the time being, it is not appropriate to create additional standards. However, the Federal Council believes it can close other legal loopholes identified in the 2013 report. The due diligence obligations for data collection, for example, are to be expanded as part of the revision of the Data Protection Act. The Department of Justice and Police is currently working on a draft. The Department of Home Affairs is preparing a law that will introduce uniform rules for age labeling and age restrictions for games and videos. Child and youth protection is also to be strengthened in the Telecommunications Act. And finally, the authorities have been given additional instruments in the form of the revised Surveillance Act and the new Intelligence Service Act.

Difficult enforcement

The Federal Council has left open the question of how to deal with the increase in advertising on social networks. In connection with the new law on electronic media, it intends to examine whether the transparency requirement that currently applies to radio and television should be extended to social media. Despite all this, the problem of international law enforcement remains unresolved. For example, it is very difficult to enforce the release of data or user profiles if they are stored abroad. The Council of Europe's Cybercrime Committee is currently working on proposals for the rapid release of data. (SDA)

Photo: Parliamentary Services, Bern