Lecture: "Regulation of social networks: NetzDG as a fall from grace or shining example?"

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Martin Eifert, HU Berlin

This event is part of the ITeG lecture series "Digitale Gesellschaft - eine Gestaltungsaufgabe" at the Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG).

The Internet has (also) profoundly changed the communication space. Social media form an important new space of direct exchange between users, but have also unleashed dynamics that call into question the preconditions of constructive discussions and violate legal rights. The Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), which has been applicable since Jan. 1, 2018 and imposes obligations on social network operators, constitutes a legislative attempt to prevent violations of legal rights on social networks. Since the first draft, it has been heavily criticized in terms of constitutional law and European law. At the heart of this is the accusation that the law would foreseeably lead to excessive deletions of posts by operators and therefore violate freedom of expression. Two members of the Bundestag have filed a lawsuit before the Cologne Administrative Court with the aim of obtaining clarification from the Federal Constitutional Court. The lecture asks whether the NetzDG is a fallacy of network regulation in this sense or whether it takes a fundamentally correct path. Contrary to widespread criticism, the lecture argues in favor of continuing and expanding the NetzDG in principle.

Further dates in the series:

• 12.12.18, 5 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Steffen Staab (University of Koblenz): "Web Science, now more than ever: case studies on political communication in social media."
• Jan. 23, 19, 5 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Susanne Robra-Bissantz (TU Braunschweig): "From the hand to the head to the city: digital participation for the design of living spaces."
• Feb. 13, 5 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau (HU Berlin): "The Metric We. On the Quantification of the Social."

More info: http://www.uni-kassel.de/eecs/iteg/veranstaltungen/iteg-ringvorlesung.html