Digitization: Organizations demand control of digital platforms
Various organizations are calling for more democratic control, rule-of-law principles and fundamental rights in the digital public sphere - and want to give the debate in Switzerland a boost.
More democratic control, rule-of-law principles and fundamental rights in the digital public sphere: that's what several organizations are calling for. With reference to the EU, they want to give the political debate in Switzerland a boost. Today, a large part of the public expresses itself on private communication platforms. Neither can the public understand how this happens and what influence it has on society, nor can it effectively protect itself from manipulation and discrimination or counter phenomena such as hate speech or disinformation, according to a statement by the organizations on Wednesday.
He said the Federal Council had drafted a detailed report on the impact of communications platforms on the digital public sphere in November 2021 and requested a debate paper on platform regulation from the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) by the end of this year.
Government proposals missing
But both this debate and concrete regulatory proposals have so far been largely absent. While the European Union has adopted comprehensive regulation of online platforms with the Digital Services Act to counter these phenomena, Swiss politicians are asleep, they say. In a statement, the organizations Algorithm Watch Switzerland, Digitale Gesellschaft and Stiftung Mercator Schweiz present proposals. For example, they call for data access for research, civil society and journalism, as well as risk assessments and auditing, i.e. algorithmic systems should be examined for their risks to fundamental rights and democracy.
Furthermore, deletions should be justified, a complaints system and an arbitration procedure should be introduced. Supervisory authorities and accessible representations of the platforms in Switzerland and the self-determined use of platforms are demanded.
Personal data worthy of protection
Personal data requiring special protection should not be allowed to be used for profiling and advertising. Protection against gender discrimination should also be strengthened and the labeling of political and commercial advertising as well as the source of funding should be ensured. The organizations are also calling for a restriction on disinformation and the labeling of so-called bots (English abbreviation for robots). This is intended to stop the algorithmically driven dissemination of false information.
Last but not least, media education in the digital space is to be promoted as a compulsory subject for a strong democracy. It should strengthen digital information and news literacy. The organizations CH++, Dezentrum, the IT and Society section of the Swiss Informatics Society, humanrights.ch, ICT4Peace, Netzcourage, OpenData.ch, PinkCross, the Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz, the Stiftung Risiko Dialog and the Zurich Hub for Ethics and Technology (ZHET) are also behind these demands. (sda)
