Eight years ahead.

2018

The founding

On 14 August 2018 the first version of the DDA exposé appears: "Für Datenschutz, Wettbewerbsfähigkeit & Dateneigentum" — for data protection, competitiveness and data ownership. The diagnosis: de-facto monopolies of the GAFAM corporations (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft), digital colonialism — the use of our resources without adequate compensation — and a massive distortion of competition at the expense of the German economy. The demands: a clearing house for data, a remuneration system, data as property.

The initiator is Alexander Felsenberg, co-founder of the FSM (Germany's voluntary self-regulation body for multimedia) and founding member of the German Digital Economy Association (BVDW).

2018

The corporations try it themselves

Almost simultaneously, Verimi (Axel Springer, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz and others) and the NetID Foundation (United Internet, RTL, SevenOne and others) launch as login alliances. Ströer and the Otto Group found a targeting alliance. The DDA welcomes these approaches — and deliberately takes a holding position so as not to interfere with their development.

2020

The updated exposé

In November 2020 the revised exposé is published. The findings have sharpened: 64% of global platform value sits in the USA, 3% in Europe. 1.1 million employees in the German e-commerce ecosystem and 520,000 in the German media industry depend on data that is not adequately offered to them.

The industry associations BVDW and BITKOM show interest but hold back — fearing conflict with their own members Google and Facebook. At the same time, economist Dennis Snower publicly calls for a reorientation of data policy: data protection alone falls short; the real issues are data sovereignty and market order.

2022–2025

Europe proves the DDA right

The EU passes the legal framework the exposé had demanded, blow by blow: the Digital Markets Act (2022) names the gatekeepers — they are the GAFAM corporations of the exposé. The Data Governance Act (applicable since 2023) creates the role of the neutral data intermediary. The Data Act (applicable since September 2025) mandates data sharing and strengthens the rights of data producers.

The DDA's core ideas — clearing house, fair access, rights to one's own data contribution — have become European law. The corporate login alliances, meanwhile, never developed the hoped-for market power: the top-down approach is history.

2026

The reactivation

The holding position is over. What is missing is not another analysis and not another law, but practical implementation: an open, cooperative platform on which companies, associations and civil society organise fair data exchange themselves. The DDA is being relaunched as that platform — and invites everyone to shape the founding phase.

Become part of the founding phase →