The coalition agreement devotes a separate chapter to digital matters. The coalition government also has relevant plans with regard to platform regulation.
Platforms at the centre of the coalition government's digital policy
The coalition agreement devotes a section of just under five pages to digital policy in chapter 2.3, setting out the guiding principles of "sovereignty", "innovation" and "social progress". The aim is also to increase the resilience of democracy in the digital sphere. In the field of data economy, the government wants to promote a "culture of data utilisation and data sharing" that establishes the data economy and embraces innovation while also protecting fundamental rights and freedoms. The coalition has also set itself the goal of strengthening digital participation and accessibility, protecting fundamental digital rights and combating discrimination in the digital sphere. This will clearly have an impact on digital platforms. This fundamentally socio-political initiative will have consequences for the operation of digital platforms, which often represent the core of the digital sphere.
There will also be innovations for the public sector itself: In particular, new public platforms for administration are to be introduced, which should open up opportunities primarily for developers and providers of digital platforms.
Creation of an independent digital ministry
Digitalisation is also being given priority at the organisational level: A new and independent Federal Ministry for Digital and State Modernisation is to be created for the 21st legislative period. This is only mentioned in the coalition agreement in the context of the distribution of responsibilities and it remains unclear at this stage what responsibilities and powers the new ministry will have. However, it can be assumed that the topics addressed in this article will have many points of overlap with the new ministry.
Digitalised administration and increased platform regulation
The coalition agreement remains fairly vague with regard to digital policy and mentions very few concrete measures. However, the goals set by the coalition government would suggest that new opportunities and challenges await companies, especially operators of online platforms.
Particularly noteworthy are a "sovereign Germany stack", which is to be implemented as a matter of priority and is intended to enable the federal states and local authorities to integrate artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services and basic components, and the "German Administration Cloud (Deutsche Verwaltungscloud – DVC)". The coalition thus intends to press ahead with the expansion of platforms for the public sector. The focus will be on European providers, which should open up particular opportunities for them. Also of note is the intention to make the state an "anchor client" for the digital economy and to give "priority to private IT service providers".
Existing legal uncertainties in connection with the data economy are to be eliminated, although it remains unclear what the coalition is specifically referring to here. In addition, the basis is to be created for consolidating regulations in a data code. The plan to create new rules specifically for mobility, health and research data is explicitly mentioned, but general access to data is also to be improved. Concrete legislative acts are therefore to be expected for the points explicitly mentioned, which will inevitably entail a corresponding effort for companies to comply with the resulting new requirements.
However, the plans are not limited to national laws: The coalition is also seeking to adapt European digital legislation, particularly in view of the dynamic developments in the area of "digital future technologies" and "key technologies". In particular, the coalition would like to push for a ban on business practices deemed "unfair", such as dark patterns and "addictive designs". The introduction of mandatory identification of bot accounts is also to be examined.
Challenges for platform providers
The coalition appears to be relying primarily on private IT service providers for the planned development of platforms for the public sector. Although details are not yet known, legal challenges are to be expected in connection with awarding the contracts for these services and the subsequent provision of services. Close support in public procurement law will be crucial for companies participating in complex tendering procedures, as will the early involvement of IT law specialists. The latter will be particularly important for the legally compliant structuring of the contractual relationships of various project participants on the contractor side.
The focus will be on enforcing the applicable standards of (in particular European) platform regulation. The coalition agreement explicitly refers to the removal of criminal content and states that systemic risks such as disinformation should be actively addressed. The focus is therefore likely to be on providers that are covered by the scope of the Digital Services Act (DSA), i.e. from providers of social media platforms and operators of online marketplaces with a comment function to hosting providers and providers of pure intermediary services. However, providers covered by the scope of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will also face new requirements.
The coalition's plans to enact national legislation and to adapt European standards will result in a considerable need for action on the part of platform operators. In particular, further tightening of the standards to be applied to the review of reported content and tightening of the sanctions regime for violations of platform regulation standards (the tightening of sanctions for systemic deficiencies in the removal of criminal content is explicitly mentioned, for example) is to be expected. The coalition agreement also repeatedly addresses the issue of disinformation. It cannot be ruled out that specific requirements for the design of platforms will be imposed. For example, a ban on certain designs, the labelling of certain users and content or the obligation to set up interfaces for automated data retrieval by law enforcement authorities are being considered.
Companies should closely monitor implementation
In order to make effective use of the opportunities offered by implementing the plans set out in the coalition agreement, companies should prepare for upcoming procurement procedures at an early stage and ensure that the necessary resources (especially human resources) are available at short notice if required.
No concrete measures have yet been initiated with regard to potential legislative changes. However, legislative processes that have been initiated should be closely monitored so that necessary measures can be anticipated at an early stage and their implementation can begin in good time. Particularly in view of the already foreseeable tightening of sanctions for violations of the platform laws, companies should ensure that the framework conditions already established under the current platform laws are complied with. In particular, the reporting channels for reporting illegal content should be properly implemented and adequately dimensioned. They should make the necessary preparations in the event of changes to the requirements at national and European level so that they are able to react flexibly if necessary.
