Governing Hate Content Online: How the <I>Rechtsstaat</i> Shaped the Policy Discourse on the NetzDG in Germany

Authors

  • Danya He University of Zurich

Keywords:

NetzDG, hate content online, online platform governance, policy discourse, Rechtsstaat, discursive institutionalism

Abstract

States around the world are struggling with illegal and hate content online. As one of the first Western democracies to do so, Germany passed the Act to Improve Enforcement of the Law in Social Networks (NetzDG) to tackle illegal and hate content online. The idea of the Rechtsstaat played a decisive role in the preceding policy discourse. Building on discursive institutionalism, this study analyzes how different actors used the Rechtsstaat to support or oppose the NetzDG. For this, it conducted a thematic analysis of 68 documents produced during the policy-making process in Germany from 2015 to 2017. The study shows that political actors used five different facets of the Rechtsstaat idea to support or oppose the NetzDG.

Author Biography

Danya He, University of Zurich

Research & Teaching Associate, Media & Internet Governance Division, Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich

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Published

2020-06-29

Issue

Vol. 14 (2020)

Section

Articles

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