Public Consultation on Platform Regulation

Zurich, 16.02.2026

Today the public consultation on the proposed law on communication platforms and search engines has ended. Interested parties were encouraged to submit their feedback on the draft proposal. ISOC-CH has used the opportunity to express concerns about the proposed law, which contains similar — though lesser — provisions than the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

The biggest concern lies in the decision-making process on whether “potentially illegal” user-provided content shall be sanctioned, particularly when it is unclear whether or not the content is illegal (as this also includes legal content). Furthermore, the proposed law intends to delegate this decision from the judiciary to platform operators. While the judiciary is bound to constitutional fundamental rights (such as freedom of speech and freedom of information, i.e., primarily defensive rights against the state), these rights do not apply to decisions of platform operators. As we learned, e.g., from the “Twitter Files,” this setup was misused by the previous US government to delegate censorship in social media to private parties (such as NGOs) in order to circumvent the First Amendment of the US Constitution (freedom of speech).

You can find our full response to this public consultation here (in German).