SPD on digital affairs

The SPD wants fiber-to-the-home connections and the latest mobile standard everywhere in Bavaria, in cities, villages and border regions. It intends to achieve this through statutory rollout and coverage obligations with interim targets, since mid-sized rural companies in particular depend on fast internet.

The SPD wants fast internet everywhere in Bavaria. This should apply in cities and in villages. A law should require companies to build the networks. The 5G mobile network should also be available everywhere.

The Bavarian Broadband Center is to be strengthened to advise small municipalities, and the SPD wants to cooperate with Austria and the Czech Republic on the rollout. It backs a federal funding program without an eligibility threshold that prioritizes underserved areas, and wants a higher minimum bandwidth at the federal level. For basic coverage it considers a levy-financed industry fund of network operators. Operators that build in rural areas are to be rewarded, and duplicate network construction in lucrative areas is to end. In spectrum auctions, providers with binding, verifiable area coverage are to win, and the SPD wants Bavaria to lead on 6G.

The SPD wants the main government services to be available digitally and without barriers. Benefits a person is entitled to are to be paid automatically or with a single click, and people are to control for themselves who may access their data.

The SPD wants people to handle government business online. Some benefits should come automatically, without an application. Everyone should decide who may see their data. The services should be easy for all to use.

Following the model of a digital life chain, citizens are to grant and revoke access rights to their data. The state is to provide municipalities with central IT infrastructure and uniform standards and create digital platforms for faster planning and cross-agency work. Data security is to improve, including for municipalities and critical infrastructure, alongside easy-access training for people with little digital experience. The SPD wants to tie state contracts to European technological sovereignty, social standards and co-determination. Added to this are more IT training and degree programs, pooled IT expertise in the state administration, further development of the Online Access Act with the federal government, and a stronger right to data protection.

The SPD wants to press for a digital tax on the revenue of large digital companies so that society shares in the internet's economic power. In addition, Bavaria is to lead in using and developing European digital technology to strengthen technological sovereignty.

The SPD wants a new tax for big internet companies. The companies should hand over part of their revenue. Bavaria should also use and develop more technology from Europe. This includes a European cloud and a platform for artificial intelligence.

The tax would apply to companies whose digital services, technologies and products exceed a certain revenue threshold in Germany, and would amount to a few percent of annual revenue. Digital corporations with outsized market power are to be regulated, and further concentration of power is not to be encouraged. Bavaria is to contribute substantially to building a European cloud or server center and a German or European AI platform, which the party says would also improve data security. All schools are also to be very well equipped, and every student is to have a digital device with internet access. Workers' rights are to apply fully to remote and platform work as well.