Verdict against the health portal: Against a lockdown of the free press

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The line between a caring and a patronizing state is a fine line.

This shows the current corona policy of the federal government, which restricts the basic rights of its citizens out of welfare.

The motive may be noble, but a democracy does not ask for good intentions, it demands for its right.

Care and good intentions may also have been the reason for the deal between Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn and the tech giant Google when it came to the placement of the state health portalheil.bund.de.

This deal calls for the Federal Ministry of Health to appear at the top when searching for medical information on Google.

Burda-Verlag, which owns the health advisor netdoktor.de, has now successfully sued this cooperation.

The Munich Regional Court ruled that the cooperation is a restriction of competition on the health portal market.

However, it is about more than fair competition.

If a monopoly like Google becomes the determiner of information and the state uses it for itself, then that paves the way to a lockdown of the free press.

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Some people may still be able to gain something from state-secured - or, to put it more crudely: state-controlled - information in the health sector when it comes to search queries such as "Corona symptoms" or "Measles".

But where does such a development lead?

Directing information is the method of authoritarian regimes.

Now we in Germany are far from an autocracy, the rule of law works, as the current judgment of the Munich Regional Court shows.

What is questionable, however, is the self-image of a government that wants to gain information sovereignty with the help of Google and thereby harm publishers, i.e. the free press.

Independent journalism is essential in a free society.

For independent journalism to be financed, fair competition is required.

It is the task of the state to make this competition possible - and not to enter this competition as an actor.

So instead of doing common cause with Google, the real concern of the federal government should be to break the monopoly of such tech giants.

The sovereignty over information does not belong in the hands of Google & Co. and also not in the hands of ministries.

It belongs to the responsible citizen - and we journalists are obliged to them.