German states draft rule to boost public broadcasters in social-media feeds

In a bid to address online media challenges, the sixteen state governments are negotiating a Digital Media State Treaty that includes a quota for diversity-promoting content in social-media recommendation feeds. The plan calls for at least one out of every five suggested posts to originate from media labelled as having a public-value contribution, a category that automatically includes public broadcasters like ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio.

Private channels such as RTL, n-tv, Welt, ProSieben and Sat.1 may obtain the label only after applying to the Landesmedienanstalten, which are formally independent but include regional parliamentary representatives. The treaty is split into two sections: the first implements EU rules and AI provisions, already codified in June, while the second, containing the quota rule, was released for comment at the end of September. Final adoption requires agreement among the states and ratification by regional parliaments.