The Ethical Council has rejected the idea of instituting a blanket ban on social media for minors. Helmut Frister, the council’s chairman, stated in Berlin on Thursday that modern children and teenagers grow up surrounded by numerous digital offerings that play a crucial role in fulfilling their communication and information needs. He clarified, “The task is to balance the necessary protection of young people with their interests in digital participation and empowerment. From the perspective of the German Ethical Council, introducing a statutory minimum age for social media is not suitable for this.”
However, the council stressed the urgent need to make digital environments more child-friendly. Judith Simon, a philosopher and spokesperson for the council’s statement, detailed the common digital dangers: “Algorithmic promotion of addiction, manipulation, violence, cyberbullying, pornography, extremism: Digital risks are ubiquitous; but they stem from content and functions that are not limited to social media.” She further noted that generative AI, including image generators and chatbots, is increasingly being used by children and adolescents, bringing with it equally significant risks. A simple age minimum for social media would fail to address these wider dangers and could potentially push children and teens toward less regulated chatbots to fulfill their informational, communicative, and emotional needs.
Instead, the Ethical Council advocates for a risk-based protective concept. This approach would encompass not only social media but also various other digital offerings, allowing for a targeted analysis of the risks presented by each service and establishing protective measures tailored to the level of that risk. Frister pointed out that the EU’s Digital Services Act, effective since February 2024, provides a solid foundation for such a concept.
“The guidelines aimed at reducing dangers for children and young people online must still be implemented much more effectively, and providers must be held to greater account,” Frister emphasized. Judith Simon added that while the EU Commission has begun to more strictly enforce the Digital Services Act protections for minors, this path must be pursued consistently despite all opposition and supported by Germany. Furthermore, she stressed that it is critically necessary to extend the protection of minors to AI applications like chatbots and image generators, as well as to modernize the Youth Media Protection State Treaty.
