Switzerland plans its Ministry of Truth

A new law aims to bring order to digital debate – just like the EU: Controlling free thought instead of citizens who think: Goodbye democracy!

by Hanspeter Gautschin*

(14 November 2025) (CH-S) The Federal Council wants to “strengthen” the “rights” of users in the digital space and “oblige” very large communication platforms and search engines to “be more fair and transparent”. This is to be enforced by federal law. The consultation period runs until 16 February 2026.¹

The model for this is the European Union’s “Digital Services Act”. This top-down law now promises authoritarian conditions for Switzerland as well. Hanspeter Gautschin highlights the parallels on “insideparadeplatz.ch”.

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It is inconspicuously called the “Federal Act on Communication Platforms and Search Engines” (KomPG) – it sounds technical, but what it means is that, in the future, the state will interfere with freedom of expression. Officially, of course, this is only to combat hate speech and fake news. Unofficially, it is to control thought.

The KomPG is a copy of the EU’s “Digital Services Act” (DSA), a bureaucratic monster that purports to bring order to the internet but is in fact a censorship apparatus with an administrative logo.

Under this act, platforms must delete content if someone reports it. What is considered illegal or misleading is decided by authorities, NGOs or so-called “trusted flaggers”. These are state-certified truth administrators. The result: platforms would rather delete too much than too little. Because those who don’t delete pay up to six per cent of their global turnover. This is how censorship works today – not with the Stasi, but with penalties.

Now the Federal Council wants the same thing, just in Swiss German. The big platforms are to introduce reporting procedures, operate complaint centres and block users if they disseminate “illegal content”. Of course, the law does not say what is illegal. That is then clarified by a “trusted” body.

Even today, in Switzerland, one indignant click is enough to get you into legal trouble if you say publicly that there are men and women. And now this madness is to be enshrined in law? This is not protection of citizens – it is protection from citizens.

Behind the friendly label “trusted body” lies a dangerous idea: a small circle of organisations decides what can be said. NGOs, authorities, and perhaps at some point media companies too – all of them will be allowed to report anything they don’t like.

Platforms react reflexively: delete, block, erase. Abuse is inevitable. Because whoever has the power to report determines what remains. That is not democracy, that is a digital planned economy.

The EU model even includes an emergency clause. In crisis mode, the Commission may issue direct instructions to platforms. It defines what constitutes a crisis. Health crisis? War? False opinions before a vote? Once activated, this lever is every communications strategist’s dream. And Switzerland?

Of course, it only “adopts” what is necessary. Translated, this means that as soon as Brussels coughs, masks for thoughts will also be distributed here. The Federal Council is selling the KomPG as “mild regulation”. It says it only wants to create transparency, prevent abuse and promote fairness. That sounds like a school essay, but it smacks of control. They don’t want to censor, just “moderate”. They don’t want to punish, just “react”. They don’t want to determine what is right, only to “check”. But anyone who knows how power works recognises the game: first come the report buttons. Then algorithms. Then standstill.

The platforms are afraid of millions in fines. So, they delete. Not because they want to, but because they have to. This is called overblocking: better to delete a hundred legal posts than leave one unwelcome one too many.

This creates a new, subtle form of censorship. Not through laws alone, but through fear, conformity and the reflex to avoid conflict. This is the point at which democracy begins to die a quiet death.

Of course, it all sounds wonderful: protection from hate, protection from discrimination, protection from misinformation. But who defines all this? And who protects us from the protectors?

The WHO now speaks of an “infodemic”: too much contradiction to the official truth. Brussels, Berlin and Bern nod obediently. And as if that weren’t grotesque enough, Federal Councillor Albert Rösti is opening an exhibition on “fake news” at the Swiss Museum of Transport – produced, of all places, by the Swiss Public Broadcasting association, SRG.

On larger-than-life video walls, Swiss German, Swiss French and Swiss Italian Radio and Television, SRF, RTS and RSI personalities explain how manipulation works in the media. One feels like applauding: finally, they are talking about themselves. The show is called “Wirklich” [Really] and, according to its own advertising, aims to “raise awareness of media literacy”. In reality, it is a fairground of self-praise – a confessional for journalists who repeat their sins on a continuous loop.

When, in Switzerland, the largest recipient of compulsory fees acts as a teacher of truth, it is not a contribution to enlightenment, but to the history of irony. Freedom rarely dies in the thunder of cannons. It dies in the applause of the well-meaning. First, they say we must civilise the discourse. Then they say we must moderate it. And in the end, it is gone.

The KomPG is not a communications law – it is a law of mistrust. Mistrust of citizens who think, speak and doubt for themselves. The EU’s Digital Services Act has shown where this path leads: bureaucracy, fear, silence. If Bern now follows the same path, the digital marketplace will become a state-controlled pedestrian zone.

Anyone who believes that this serves democracy has failed to understand it. Democracy is about debate, contradiction and friction. You can’t present it like a television programme. Switzerland doesn’t need a law that supervises thinking. It needs citizens who use their thinking.

Anyone who gives the state the right to scrutinise opinions should not be surprised when they themselves end up under scrutiny.

*  Hanspeter Gautschin grew up in Oberdorf BL (Switzerland) and returned there after more than 40 years. His professional career has taken him through a variety of positions in the cultural sector – from concert organiser and cultural promoter to museum director. He is fascinated by storytelling, recording special experiences and reflecting on life. https://www.gautschin.com/

Source: https://insideparadeplatz.ch/2025/10/31/die-schweiz-plant-ihr-wahrheitsministerium/, 31 October 2025

(Translation “Swiss-Standpoint”)

1 cf. https://www.bakom.admin.ch/de/newnsb/6TmEAde4htulaWG9CWYtK