Meinungsmacht sozialer Netzwerke

Social networks like Facebook have a significant relevance for the process of communication. Being gatekeepers social networks have the ability to control and to manipulate communication. Thus, social networks have a so called power of opinion, which causes high risks for the freedom of opinion formation. This legal analysis takes the research results of socialogy and communication science into account and gives a law bound explanation as to why social networks need to be regulated by the government. This work also shows that it is absolutely possible to enforce national law on issues regarding the internet. Finally the author reveals possible legal actions that are suitable to decrease the communicative influence of social networks. The author has dealt with communicative power as to the internet for his whole scientific career. Currently he is working as a lawyer in the field of media and ip-law.