Platform regulation and “overblocking” – The NetzDG discourse in Germany

Abstract

This paper analyzes the internet policy discourse regarding the German Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) in different media settings. We examine the conversation about this highly controversial anti-hate speech law on IT blogs, websites, and in daily German newspapers. We compare the positions brought forward in these different media environments concerning one of the most important topics within the discussion about the NetzDG, specifically the question of whether or not the law will result in censorship, limiting users’ freedom of expression. We employ pretrained transformer-based language models to detect and quantify recurring arguments in the debate.