Nowhere in the world did the lessons of Russian interference in the U.S. election hit home as they did in Germany. In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s victory, Chancellor Angela Merkel repeatedly warned that foreign powers could also meddle in Germany’s upcoming autumn election.

Intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen went further, detailing fears of a Kremlin-led “targeted disinformation campaign” using a combination of cyber-attacks and false news stories. In the ensuing panic, German politicians started scrabbling for a solution. But an attempt to force social networks to police false news on their platforms has become mired in controversy.

The bone of contention is a proposed “law against ‘fake news’” which would force social networks to remove false reports from their platforms. The suggestion was met by immediate outrage from tech groups and journalists, who said it would usher in online censorship on an unprecedented scale.

Hastily backtracking, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas in March unveiled proposals for a “network enforcement law,” which would force networks to quickly review and delete “hate crime and other illegal content,” which are already banned under German law.