German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives are considering barring children under the age of 16 from social media, although there were signs of reluctance from his centre-left coalition partners to an outright ban.
Since Australia became the first country to ban the use of social media platforms by children last year, a growing number of countries in Europe have taken or considered similar steps on concerns over the perceived negative effects of social media use on young people. Dennis Radtke, head of the influential labour wing of Merz’s CDU party, said the “dynamic developments in social media” were outstripping media literacy. “In many places, social media is a collection of hate and fake news. I, therefore, welcome the idea of following Australia’s example and introducing an age limit,” he told.
However, Johannes Schätzl, the digital policy spokesperson from the Social Democrats, Merz’s centre-left coalition partners, said he would be against an outright ban, calling for effective controls by the platforms themselves. He said that while social media posed risks for young people, it also opened up opportunities for participation and opinion forming. He said social media platforms had to regulate their business models to provide proper protection for young people, with clear safeguards and bans on aggressive algorithmic recommendation systems for minors.
