Technical age limit demanded: TikTok should lock out all under-12s
In order to better protect children under the age of 12, the social media platform TikTok should deny them access, demands the Federal Drug Commissioner.
(Image: Shutterstock.com/ Kaspars Grinvalds)
TikTok should no longer be accessible to children under the age of twelve, if the Federal Drug Commissioner Burkhart Blienert (SPD) has his way. The app is extremely popular with children and young people, but youth protection experts like Blienert are increasingly concerned about developments on TikTok. "We have to take a very close look when drugs or violence are glorified," Blienert told the Rheinische Post. There should be "no Wild West in social media".
For Blienert, the platform harbors risks, as a child cannot decide "how to deal with AI-generated content and symbols that instruct them to be constantly on TikTok". The platform should therefore be banned for children up to the age of twelve. "Only then can young people better assess how they can use social media sensibly, what is good for them and what is not," is Bienert's view.
Stricter access to TikTok: "Exclude dangerous elements"
TikTok itself stipulates in its terms of use that only people aged 13 or older may use the platform. Blienert is now calling for access to be more strictly controlled: "TikTok must be graded by age up to 18 with technical restrictions to exclude dangerous elements," the SPD politician demands.
The problem with all these demands: Firstly, the age limit is difficult to control, and secondly, it is unlikely to be enforced. First of all, all TikTok users in Germany would have to prove their age digitally. The most obvious way to do this is to use the online ID function of the ID card. TikTok would have to require its users to allow the platform to read their age from their ID card using a card reader or the ID card app for smartphones.
Age limit would be difficult to enforce
This would be conceivable in principle. However, an age limit would be easy to circumvent in this way. This is because the restrictions would only apply to German users, while TikTok is available in over 160 other countries. The German age restrictions could easily be circumvented with the help of VPN connections by users simply accessing the service in another country.
However, pressure on TikTok to take stronger measures for the protection of minors is likely to increase, at least in other EU countries. With the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), the very large online platforms ("VLOPS") such as Instagram or TikTok and search engines ("VLOSE") are regulated directly by the European Commission.
(vbr)