Overview
- The federal Expertenkommission delivered its report this week, offering two equal options: a statutory minimum age of about 13 for account ownership or a risk‑based regime that restricts specific platform functions.
- Families Minister Karin Prien publicly backs a 13‑year minimum, while many child‑health clinicians and parent groups say 13 is too low and press for staged limits up to 16.
- Evidence from Australia has sharpened the debate because a BMJ study found over 85% of under‑16s remained active on platforms by using fake or shared accounts, and Canberra has responded by doubling maximum corporate fines and expanding regulator powers.
- The commission urges concrete platform measures for young users, including no algorithmic recommendation feeds, bans on personalized ads and limits on autoplay and manipulative design, but it says reliable age checks will be needed to make these rules work.
- The report has turned a wider international argument about numeric bans versus platform responsibility into a political test in Germany and raises practical trade‑offs for privacy, enforcement and children’s real online participation.