AustriaThe Austrian Information Freedom Act (IFG), which came into effect in September 2025, aims to increase transparency in government operations. However, some agencies, including the Finance Ministry and Justice Department, refuse to accept information requests via email, opting instead for fax or web forms. This has led the transparency platform FragDenStaat.at to revert to using faxes to submit requests. The decision by these agencies is based on claims that electronic submissions could lead to spam or misdirected emails. Critics, including Markus Hametner of the Transparency NGO 'Forum Informationsfreiheit,' describe this move as regressive, likening it to the 1980s, and argue it undermines public access to information.
Bias read (Center): While the issue of information access is politically charged, the article presents both the arguments of the government agencies (concerns over spam and misdelivery) and the criticisms from transparency advocates. There is no clear ideological slant in the framing of the story, and the reporting is,
