Philipp Türmer, chief of the German Greens (Juso), dismissed plans to ban social‑media platforms for children under 14. Speaking to RTL and ntv, he said he could not see a viable concept for such a ban and argued that the focus should instead be on “real big criminals” – the U.S. tech billionaires. Türmer stresses that platforms themselves, including Mark Zuckerberg’s and Elon Musk’s, must be held responsible for child‑pornographic content and systematic fraud occurring on their networks. If operators fail to follow the rules, he says the EU must impose substantial fines or even shut the networks down. He warned that a crackdown could see Meta’s shares crash, and noted that it is unacceptable for these U.S. plutocrats to disregard law and order.
Türmer also criticized Australia’s current ban, calling it a poor model. He pointed out that the legislation increased download rates for VPN servers, which, according to him, makes it easier for users to bypass restrictions. “If we implement a similar ban here, someone like ‘Lisa from Ulm’ would suddenly become ‘Lisa from Utah’ and could evade every social‑media prohibition” he said. Despite his objections to a blanket ban, Türmer praised efforts to better protect children and adolescents online, describing the current situation as a “catastrophe, at least partially, of what is unfolding”.
