Social media for minors: Prien sees massive need for action

The new Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Karin Prien, wants to take a new approach to the problems that arise in connection with the use of social media platforms. She is relying on broad cooperation between those responsible – and wants to increase the pressure on providers.

At the presentation of the annual report by jugendschutz.net, which acts as a reporting office for problematic content on behalf of the federal and state governments, the long-standing Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education explained today at midday that she is focusing on a mix of measures. After all, children and young people have a right to both protection and age-appropriate participation. She sees a massive need for action.

She considers the figures presented by jugendschutz.net to be "alarming in parts". jugendschutz.net registered 17,630 violations of youth media protection law in 2024, almost 90 percent of which, according to the agency, concerned depictions of sexualized violence.

A new trend is increasingly playing a role here, said Stefan Glaser, Head of the institution, in Berlin: "Generative AI has arrived in everyday life." In terms of child and youth protection, this relates to the deep nude problem, for example, when normal images are processed into supposed nude images of people using AI.

However, his office cannot give the all-clear in other areas either. For example, jugendschutz.net received 1,087 reports of extremist content. Glaser also warned against bait offers to young people and children in the gaming environment: Extremists were trying to get in touch with minors on Discord in particular. On other platforms, Islamist influencers, for example, were trying to appeal to young people with a migration background via lifestyle topics.

Although the operators' protective measures are correct in terms of their intention, they are usually ineffective. "As long as the age is not reliably checked, the measures lack impact," said Glaser. As long as users could specify any age, protective measures based on this would be inadequate.

KJM calls for effective age verification

Marc-Jan Eumann, Chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media of the Federal States, was much tougher on the providers. He cited teen accounts on Instagram as an example of inadequate efforts, where parents' accounts are linked to those of their children up to the age of 16 and include restrictions on contact and visible content as a default setting.

For Eumann, the function, which has been available since last September, is "ultimately a smokescreen by a provider to pretend that there is protection in their service." Eumann is a strong advocate of age verification systems, which the DSA also applies in principle. These are available on the market at – and he believes the platforms are capable of using them in practice. "They just don't do it because it jeopardizes their business model," said Eumann.

The federal states responsible for the protection of minors in the media want to establish further obligations in the next revision of the relevant state treaty and anchor age verification systems at operating system level. Whether the plans of the state chancelleries are compatible with European law is controversial. But technology alone will not be enough in any case.

KJM Chairman Eumann has an urgent request for parents regarding the problem of new AI misuse possibilities: "Assume that every image that appears online will be misused at some point." The imagination of those who want to generate something with it is almost unlimited.

Eumann repeated his previous appeal to adults: "Never put an unpixelated picture of your child online. Especially not with their name and age."

The discrepancy between the analog and digital behavior of parents would irritate him. Whereas in the analog world, children are brought to the school gates under close protection, they are largely left alone in the digital world.

Prien: Parents play a crucial role

The protection of the young generation in the digital world is both an educational and a political task, explained Prien, who has headed the Federal Ministry of Education, Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth since the beginning. On the one hand, the smartphone is important for participation – but it is also a way for pornographic, extremist and other problematic content to reach young people.

Racism, anti-Semitism and contempt for women are widespread on platforms. She therefore demands: "We must not allow such content to become opinion-forming in so-called social networks."

Prien attaches particular importance to the child and youth protection provisions in the Digital Services Act. The German government will advocate effective enforcement vis-à-vis the EU Commission. At the same time, it is not just about regulation and laws, but also about media literacy. "Parents play a crucial role here," said Prien, even if schools, nurseries and daycare centers also have an important role to play. As Minister of Education in Schleswig-Holstein, Prien had already enforced a general ban on cell phones for pupils in elementary school, which comprises the first four classes there.

Referring to new figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), she highlighted the comparatively high amount of screen time spent by children and young people in Germany. Prien also announced that the effects of this will be analyzed scientifically. For her, however, it is clear: "Digital devices have no place in any context for children up to the age of three."

At today's press conference in Berlin, it became clear that the new Federal Minister for Family Affairs is bringing a slightly different focus to the debate: Prien announced that a comprehensive strategy for the protection of children and young people in the digital world is to be developed. She repeatedly emphasized that scientific findings should also serve as a guideline for political action.

The protection of the young generation in the digital world is a social, educational and political task. In addition to DSA and German legal norms, she is also relying on the EU Commission's Digital Fairness Act proposal, currently expected for 2026, which is intended to address the legal framework for online services once again.

(dahe)