The paper even floats a “legal quota” for how much state-approved content must appear in feeds.
The paper warns of “disinformative, polarizing, or merely attention-grabbing content” dominating algorithms. The entity defining “disinformation” and the entity selecting “reliable” sources are, functionally, the same network of politically appointed regulators.
Since 2025, outlets granted “public value” status have already gotten preferential placement in app stores and smart TV interfaces, with ARD and ZDF ranked at the top. The new proposal extends that system directly into social media feeds.
The regulatory apparatus making these decisions already has a track record of targeting inconvenient outlets.
The Berlin-Brandenburg media authority used Paragraph 19 of the Interstate Media Treaty to sanction Nius, a right-leaning outlet, over a report about refugees. Independent journalist Alexander Wallasch was told to delete three articles and audit his entire archive. Since 2020, the authorities have sent 94 formal warning letters to online media, overwhelmingly aimed at smaller, independent publications.