Is there also an issue of protection, say data protection, and how you balance the two?
They are not happy about that.
Your Telco industry, are they happy with that when there will be mandatory provisions asking them to?
I looked a bit on the Internet and there were people complaining about the fact that it’s often not clear when data are updated and how often they are updated when you look at the data set.
There is none at the moment, is there?
Let’s talk about open data. That is an important mission here of this ministry. Some people say it actually needs a legal framework, to do this well.
That’s true.
That’s true, although not always easy either as we see with Nord Stream at the moment.
Yeah, it is, but I wonder it makes a difference politically. Whether you can just say blame China.
There is a question whether it’s also used by domestic groups, right?
Yeah, I know. That’s why we distinguish between misinformation and disinformation. That is an important distinction, I think.
No, it’s not.
Because some people say that also religious groups use now disinformation as a weapon, and then they become normalized that all groups use now.
That you know, that is from domestic?
As long as they are not cut.
It’s an attribution problem if you mean that.
Mainland. As a jurisdiction.
Most people probably say that disinformation is mainly of Chinese origin, and others say there is a lot coming also from domestic sources. Do you have any…?
I thought, after listening to a few fact-checkers here, that it would be good to have a code of conduct for media companies, with teeth, having someone checking that they also follow through. What do you think of that?
Cynics would say that is spreading short of giving money to bad journalism, to make them earn more money with bad outcomes. How do you make sure that it goes into qualified journalists?
Would you say that, as a minister in this country, that is part of your responsibility to…?
I rather thought that if journalism would work better in this country had a higher quality, then disinformation wouldn’t have that kind of effect.
I agree. [laughs]
Yeah.
That’s independent. Now let’s put it that way, if you were advising the NCC, would you advise them to adopt or not to adopt the DSA?
Oh, NDC. Sorry.
I thought you were, as a minister…
As a councilor of the NCC, you would advise against adopting a version…?
No, but also, takedowns have side effects.
They also have side effects.
What is your take? People here talk a lot about disinformation. What do you think the government should do with regard to that?
The DSA does not only increase accountability and transparency of platforms, it also needs to address disinformation. There’s a lot of criticism with regard to that part.
DMA?
What’s your take on the DSA? Do you like it? Do you criticize it?
Speaking of DSA, it seems to evolve into global blueprint in various countries, projecting ideas, hopes…
It’s a tradeoff.
You would say that for you it made more sense to run a ministry, or to create and run a ministry than have digital affair organized as a commission?
Because it connects ministries.
Because what I heard is that commission in the logic of Taiwanese ministries and government would be more cross-cutting issues.
Speaking of commissions, as far as I know, there was a debate here whether digital affairs should have the form of a ministry or rather be a commision. What was your view in this debate?
That is an issue, and I wonder whether something similar could happen here that it’s too small to actually do a proper job. That’s why I’m asking.
Have you heard about that? The GDPR is seriously hampered by the fact that Ireland is responsible for everything concerning Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. because their European branch is always located in Ireland.
Because often they’re understaffed. In many countries in Europe, they’re understaffed. That’s a way of weakening data protection by making implementation and controls difficult. For example, the most famous case is Ireland.
How many people will it have?
Another question regarding DPA. Will it be a small one, will it be a big one? Will it have any power? Does it also, that public administration is part of its scope, or is it…?
They often do.
Why? Is there a technical reason for having them not founded at the same time?
You were divided.
Did you accept that argument? Did you find it a good one?
The budget would have…