Overview
- The expert commission handed its final report on September 11, 2026, and Federal Family Minister Karin Prien announced a 'Sofortprogramm' with draft measures to reach the cabinet by mid‑October and legal action aimed for passage before year‑end.
- The report contains 56 recommendations and offers two regulatory paths: a statutory minimum age (proposed from age 13 with limited exceptions) or service‑specific age rules that vary by platform risk.
- Prien said she favors a clear legal age threshold combined with binding obligations for platforms to adopt safety‑by‑design or safety‑by‑default measures and to restrict addictive features for young users.
- International moves are converging on design rules rather than pure bans — California on September 11 restricted so‑called addictive functions for under‑16s, and the European Commission is preparing proposals that may set EU‑wide age limits at under‑13 or under‑15.
- Key challenges remain: enforcing age checks without violating privacy, patchy enforcement seen in other countries, limited public funds for education and help services, and immediate priorities such as media literacy (the proposed 'KI‑Seepferdchen'), anti‑grooming measures and limits on deepfakes.