The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), a partner in the coalition led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is proposing to ban access to social media for under-14s, according to an internal document reported by several German media on Monday. According to the proposal, pushed by SPD members, parliamentary group members, and MEPs, providers should technically block access to these platforms for under-14s, under penalty of fine, reported DW and accessed by the Argentine News Agency. For the 14-16 age group, a “youth version” of the social network in question would be established, where a profile could only be created through a verification process by a legal guardian and would operate with certain restrictions, without personalized content and without features designed to increase dependency. Furthermore, according to the Bild newspaper, the document proposes to go even further and deactivate algorithm-based recommendations shown to users by default, also in the adult versions of social networks. “I say this openly, self-regulation does not work,” said the regional prime minister of the western federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Social Democrat Alexander Schweitzer, to public television ARD. The protection of young people from the “avalanche of hate and violence” in social networks has top priority. “We cannot do without clear rules and limitations, such as those proposed by the SPD,” affirmed, for his part, on Sunday the Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Finance, Lars Klingbeil, in statements to the weekly Der Spiegel. “The protection of young people from the avalanche of hate and violence on social networks has maximum priority,” he assured. From the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Merz's party, on the other hand, requests were launched last month to ban social networks like TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook for under-16s. The Minister of Family Affairs, the Christian Democrat Karin Prien, already created a commission last year to study possible legal avenues to curb minors' use of networks. It is planned that the issue will be addressed again next weekend at the conference that the CDU will hold in the city of Stuttgart, in southwest Germany. The main opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), has, on the contrary, spoken out against any type of ban and described this possibility as “erroneous and dangerous,” in the words of the co-leader Alice Weidel. Weidel stated that it is the task of parents to teach their children responsible use of social networks and that this is the most effective way to face the problem. Australia is a pioneer in this field with a national ban on access to social networks for under-16s, effective since December 2025. France approved restrictions for under-15s, while Spain, Portugal, Greece, and New Zealand are preparing similar regulations, mostly targeting under-16s.
