Constitutional lawyer Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf has refined her proposal for new media oversight and announced further initiatives. She emphasized the need for better protection of personal rights against disparaging remarks in new digital media, particularly on social media, speaking to the dts news agency on Monday.
While the procedures established under the Digital Services Act (DSA) currently offer mechanisms on platforms, Brosius-Gersdorf stresses that the right to personality is frequently undermined online. She suggests that a non-state regulatory supervision of social and new media platforms, which could proactively intervene in cases of personality rights violations, would be helpful.
Crucially, she clarified that she is advocating not for state oversight, but for oversight free from both state and governmental control, carried out by institutions such as the regional media authorities. She proposed that the Media State Treaty could be amended to empower these regional media authorities to issue necessary sanctions when personal rights are violated through new media and platforms.
Brosius-Gersdorf plans to outline additional proposals for protecting personal rights online and fostering a better debate culture in her upcoming book, titled “Choice and Truth,” which is set to be released on September 1st.
The lawyer also commented on the controversy that arose following her earlier statements to ZDF regarding the demand for “governmental oversight.” She noted that “the discussion is indeed getting out of hand,” according to her comments to the dts news agency on Monday.
