Tobias Schmid and Wilhelm Eschweiler on the Implementation of the DSA in Germany

Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the State Media Authority NRW, and Dr. Wilhelm Eschweiler, Vice President of the Federal Network Agency, discuss what they think about the national implementation of the Digital Service Act in a conversation with Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz on 22 and 29 September. 

The originally announced guest for the second talk, Klaus Müller, cancelled due to scheduling reasons. 

In September, the Digital Services Act (DSA) will be the subject of two talks in the high-profile series "Insights and Power: Internet Scientists meet Platform Decision-Makers". It will come into force in 2024, but national implementation is already starting today. On 22 September, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz will talk with Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, and on 29 September with Dr. Wilhelm Eschweiler, Vice President of the Federal Network Agency, about questions of national implementation and the future of platform supervision: Who should take on the key role as co-ordinator for digital services in Germany? This new role requires competence in media law, data protection law, consumer law and network law. Do we need a new authority? Should the tasks be distributed? Do we need entirely new supervisory structures?
 
The talks will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann and streamed live on the TIDE Hamburg YouTube channel from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Viewers can participate in the discussion via the YouTube chat and via Slido.

Livestream 22 September
Slido

Livestream 29 September
Slido

About Tobias Schmid

Dr Tobias Schmid is Director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LFM NRW), European Commissioner of the Conference of Directors of the State Media Authorities (DLM) and board member of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA). Since 1 April 2021, he has also been a member of the Committee of Experts on Communication and Information of the German Commission for UNESCO. Tobias Schmid was Chair of ERGA from 2020 to 2022. He was Head of Media Policy at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland from 2005 to 2016 and Executive Vice President Governmental Affairs at the RTL Group from September 2010 to December 2016. In addition, the doctor of law was also involved in the Association of Private Broadcasting and Telemedia (today: VAUNET), from November 2012 to September 2016 as chairman of the board.

About Wilhelm Eschweiler

Dr. Wilhelm Eschweiler took office as Bundesnetzagentur Vice President in May 2014 and is responsible for the telecommunications and rail sectors. Prior to that he had been head of the division for international ICT policy at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). From 2002 to 2006 he was head of the division for international telecommunications and postal policy at the BMWi.
 

Discussion Series  "Insights & Power: Internet Scientists Meet Platform Decision-Makers"

The events are part of the discussion series "Insights & Power: Internet Scientists Meet Platform Decision-Makers". In this series, leading internet scientists will meet with platform leaders and explore the question of what actionable knowledge is essential for impact-oriented platform research, how knowledge can be transferred to platforms and regulators, and how cross-disciplinary, international platform research can be successfully funded and conducted.

A key challenge for good platform governance is the existence of knowledge asymmetries between governance actors. Platforms, academics, civil society and regulators all know different things and have different perspectives on key elements such as socio-technical platform architectures, incentive structures, standard-setting systems, algorithmic tools and user behaviour. Given the growing body of research on how platforms develop rules and how public values should be integrated into private orders, three Kantian questions arise for platform governance research and practice:

• What can scholars know?
• What should platforms do?
• What can governments hope to do?

In the opening discussion of the event series, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz talked with Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, about the topic: "Great Expectations: What Research Expects from Platforms and Platforms from Research". In April 2022, he spoke with Renate Nicolay, Head of Cabinet of EU Commission Vice-President Vĕra Jourová, on the topic of "Globalizing the European Media Order: The Brussels Effect in Times of Crisis".

Further talks are being planned.

The series of talks is organised by the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI), the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the Global Network for Internet and Society Research Centres (NoC), which brings more than 100 research centres on the Internet and society together. The HBI has recently established a Private Ordering Observatory, a Digital Disinformation Hub and a Social Media Observatory. The HIIG has recently established the Platform Governance Archive.