Germany approves plan to restrict social media for children under 13 — Interia
The German government has approved the main principles of temporary restrictions on children’s and teenagers’ access to social media. The plan provides for a general ban on using such platforms for people under 13, except for specially verified services for young audiences. This was reported by Interia.
The initiative is to remain in force until common European rules are adopted. Berlin seeks to introduce an EU-wide ban on access to social media for children under 13.
Restrictions for teenagers
For users aged 13 to 17, gradual restrictions are planned, although their specific content has not yet been defined in the framework document. The European EU Kids Act project is mentioned as a possible reference point. Possible tools include “mini-accounts” with limited functionality, parental controls, and a daily activity limit ranging from one to several hours.
Among the planned requirements for platforms are effective mechanisms for verifying users’ ages, including through the EUDI Wallet digital document.
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Requirements for platforms and education
Under the government’s plan, developers of digital applications must provide solutions to prevent addiction already at the stage of creating services. Algorithmic recommendations and the infinite scrolling feature must be disabled by default.
Germany also intends to seek to ensure that funds from fines for violations of child and youth protection rules in the media are directed toward media education. The federal states plan to establish special online police contact points for children and teenagers to make it easier to report cybercrimes and abuse.
Minister Karin Prien stated that the authorities do not want to exclude young people from the digital world, but instead seek to make them more protected and resilient to risks. The government also plans to prepare a separate program to teach responsible use of artificial intelligence to primary school students.
