Overview

• North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister Herbert Reul has publicly backed a debate on barring under-16s from social media, likening online access to age-restricted cinema content.
• Reul points to the latest federal security report showing an increase in juvenile extremism and a growing propensity for violence among isolated young users.
• Australia’s law setting a minimum age of 16 for social media use since November 2024 serves as the model for the proposed German restrictions.
• Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister-President Daniel Günther and other regional leaders have also signaled support for an under-16 ban to better protect youth online.
• Digital education experts caution that age limits alone could have unintended social effects and stress the need for robust digital literacy programs alongside planned EU age-verification measures.