Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has voiced support for a ban on social‑media use by minors. “If children today, around 14 years old, have five or more hours of daily screen time and their entire socialisation occurs through these platforms, we should not be surprised by personality deficits and social‑behavioural problems in young people” he said in the podcast “Machtwechsel”.
During the party conference this weekend the CDU will debate age limits for using services such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and similar platforms. Merz expressed “a lot of sympathy for the proposal that we are discussing at the congress next weekend, and also for the proposal coming from the SPD”. CDU state ministers Daniel Günther of Schleswig‑Holstein and Hendrik Wüst of North Rhine‑Westphalia have advocated an age limit of 16. The SPD parliamentary group is pushing for a tiered model that would implement a total ban for children under 14.
Merz admits he is sceptical of outright bans, but he says the priority should be protecting children at a stage when they also need time to play, study and concentrate at school. He believes children should learn how to handle electronic media in school, yet he dismisses the argument that children must be introduced to these tools. “In truth, that argument doesn’t hold” Merz said. “Otherwise we would need to hand out alcohol in kindergarten so they could get used to it”.
