Overview

• Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider officially urged a nationwide ban on social media use by under-16s to better shield minors from online harms.
• She warned that cybergrooming and hate speech pose massive dangers to the development of children and adolescents.
• The commissioner proposed a privacy-focused, decentralized digital wallet solution to verify users’ ages without centralizing personal data.
• A petition demanding the under-16 ban has garnered sufficient support to trigger a formal debate in the Bundestag.
• Germany’s push draws on Australia’s recently enacted law banning under-16 registrations as EU member states remain divided over a uniform age threshold.