Digital Platform: 2020 NetzDG reforms and their impact on the DSA

#EUDigitalPlatform

With the Commission draft of the “Digital Services Act” scheduled for December and the Parliament’s Initiative Reports scheduled to be adopted in October, the German NetzDG reforms (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz)  might just have the right timing to influence EU policy making on the upcoming Digital Services Act.

Together with the French Avia law, the NetzDG is the only European national law explicitly dealing with illegal hate speech online. After its adoption in 2017, it faced criticism due to a questioning of its efficiency and fundamental rights concerns. In 2020, two major reforms are underway, introducing new concepts such as mandatory forwarding of potentially illegal content by the platforms to the Federal Criminal Police Office. 

This lunch discussion will present the content of the reforms, reflect on their critical elements, on potential alternative regulatory measures and discuss their impact on the discussions around the DSA. The last 30 minutes of the event are reserved for a Q&A, for which we are looking forward to your contributions.

Chaired by:

• Alexandra Geese, MEP at Greens/EFA, on Twitter she is @AlexandraGeese
• Tabea Rößner, Member of the German Bundestag, Chair of Greens working group on netpolitics, on Twitter she is @TabeaRoessner

Speakers:

• Julia Reda, Project Leader of control © GFF,Fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, former Member of the European Parliament; on Twitter she is @Senficon
• Lisa Dittmer, Advocacy officer for internet freedom at Reporters without Borders, on Twitter she is @lisdittmer

Register here 

This is the third episode in the event series DIGITAL PLATFORM launched by MEP Alexandra Geese. This regular lunch event aims at bringing together policy experts, policy-makers and academics for insight and discussion on the latest developments in the area of platform and digital services regulation. The hashtag is #EUDigitalPlatform