Germany’s ruling conservatives on Saturday passed a motion to ban social media for under 14, marking a major consensus towards stricter digital restrictions. The policy aims to introduce stringent electronic authentication across Europe to maintain these limits.
The ban would have a profound impact on students-such as those at the Cardinal Frings Gymnasium in the city of Bonn, many of whom were seen scrolling intensely on their devices just a day before the announcement.
In this connection, a 13-year-old Mortiz-who says he only watches YouTube-remarked: “I think it’s fair but I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether to forbid it.” He further argued that the ban should only apply to children under 12, as he believes older children can already distinguish between what is fake news and what is not.”
Additionally, teacher Till Franke said that for many of the children, “it would be a shock at first, because of this daily use of social media,” as reported by Reuters.
Following the recent revelations, students might get used to it by finding other niches where they can communicate with each other.
Nonetheless, the unified support from Germany’s ruling coalition marks a fundamental shift from internet freedom toward proactive state intervention. The country is now aligning itself with Australia, Spain and France to force social media companies to create an entirely distinct infrastructure for users in the European market.
