Much of the public is now expressing themselves on private communication platforms. The public cannot understand how this is happening and how it affects society, nor can they effectively protect themselves from manipulation and discrimination or counter phenomena such as hate speech or disinformation, the organizations said on Wednesday.
In November 2021, the Federal Council wrote a detailed report on the influence of communication platforms on the digital public and requested a discussion paper on platform regulation from the Federal Public Service Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (UVEK) before the end of this year. year.
But both this debate and concrete regulatory proposals have so far been largely lacking. While the European Union has decided to extensively regulate online platforms with the Digital Services Act to counter these phenomena, Swiss politicians are sleeping.
In a “joint statement on platform regulation”, the organizations AlgorithmWatch Switzerland, Digitale Gesellschaft and Stiftung Mercator Switzerland present proposals.
For example, they demand access to data for research, civil society and journalism, as well as risk assessments and audits, ie algorithmic systems must be monitored for their risks to fundamental rights and democracy.
In addition, deletions must be justified, a complaints system and an arbitration procedure must be put in place. Supervisory authorities and accessible representations of the platforms in Switzerland and self-determination of the use of platforms are required.
Personal data deserving of special protection may not be used for profiling and advertising. Protection against gender discrimination should also be strengthened and the labeling of political and commercial advertising and the source of funding ensured.
The organizations also call for limiting disinformation and identifying so-called bots. This is intended to stop the algorithmically driven propagation of incorrect information.
Last but not least, media education in the digital space should be promoted as a compulsory subject for a strong democracy. It aims to strengthen digital information and news skills.
The organizations CH++, Dezentrum, the IT and Society section of the Swiss IT Society, humanrights.ch, ICT4Peace, Netzcourage, OpenData.ch, PinkCross, the Consumer Protection Foundation, the Risk Dialogue Foundation and the Zurich Hub for Ethics and stand also behind these requirements Technology (ZHET).
(SDA)