Mr. Andree, in the magazine "Medienwirtschaft" you made such statements about Google and Facebook that one could conclude that these services are unconstitutional.

Why?

Only the courts can answer whether they are unconstitutional.

But there is one problem: the market dominance of the digital companies.

At the University of Cologne, we have shown in an analysis that the majority of digital media use is concentrated on very few offers.

This contradicts the spirit of German media law.

In order to protect democracy, dominant positions in the media should be avoided at all costs.

But because media law always affects fundamental rights, one should doubt whether unregulated digital media monopolies are constitutional.

I find it amazing that the massively disadvantaged classic media companies have not yet appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court on this fundamental issue.

Is the power of online media not being taken seriously enough?

I think its importance is massively underestimated.

In fact, they have been the leading media since 2021.

In that year, for the first time, more advertising investments were made online than in analogue media.

In a few years, the digital media could focus 70 to 80 percent of all German attention.

Our media system will be taken over by a handful of American corporations if we don't take decisive action now.

Why is platform regulation so difficult?

It is currently not possible to legally attack a dominant position that has naturally arisen, such as Google's search engine.

Antitrust law does not apply here, and there are also no suitable regulations in media law.

There are neither established authorities nor institutionalized methods to measure market power in digital media.

The legislation simply does not provide for the breaking up of established monopolies.

This is critical above all because many digital players are monopolists in two aspects at the same time, namely both in terms of distribution channels and in terms of content.

There is a media regulator in Germany.

Doesn't she do anything?

The authorities are not to be envied.

There is a confusing multitude of laws and different competences at federal, state and EU level.

It is gratifying that the Commission for Determining Concentration in the Media Sector (KEK) has just admitted that “current media concentration law provides practically no answers” ​​to this problem and has announced a reform.

But that is only useful if you have the courage to create laws to actively break up dominant digital positions.

Unfortunately, the recently passed "Digital Markets Act" of the EU also fails here.

Insignificant mergers of local newspapers are currently being reviewed under antitrust law, but we are giving the digital monopolies free rein.

The formation of concentrations is systematically monitored in analogue media,

not in digital media.

The analogue media assume distributor liability, the platforms are exempt from this – and so on.

This privileging should be stopped and consistent regulations introduced across all media.