German SPD politician pushes for social media restrictions for children under 14

JAKARTA - A number of politicians from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Germany have called for restrictions on children's access to social media, including a proposal for an official ban for users under the age of 14.

The call is in line with their conservative coalition partners and comes amid a growing debate in Germany over the negative impact of social media on children. The discussion was also influenced by Australia's move to ban the use of social media for children under 16.

The SPD leader, who is also the German Finance Minister, Lars Klingbeil, said that stricter rules could no longer be avoided. He assessed that protecting children from exposure to hate speech and violence on social media should be a top priority.

In a discussion document signed by a number of parliamentarians and state officials from the SPD, it was proposed that the platform block access for children under 14 years of age. For the age group of 14 to 16 years, a special "teenager" version is proposed without algorithm-based feeds, without personalized content, and without features such as endless scrolling and automatic playback.

The document also proposes that the algorithm-based recommendation system be disabled by default for all users over 16 years of age, unless they choose to activate it.

The proposal follows a similar proposal from the conservative party of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who also pushed for a ban for children under 16 and will be discussed at the party conference this week.

Pressure from the two major parties in the coalition increases the likelihood that the federal government will push for restrictive policies. However, in the German federal system, media regulation is the responsibility of state governments, so a state-by-state agreement is needed to implement uniform national rules.

Last year, the German government formed a special commission to study child protection from potential online dangers. The commission's report is scheduled to be released later this year.