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Published: 11 June 2026
How do we protect children and teenagers on the Internet? In October 2025, the President of the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner, sent a letter to the German Ethics Council, asking it to put the current discussion on the impact of social media on young people into a fundamental ethical context.
The situation is complex. In the face of content harmful to youngsters and the health risks associated with intensive social media use, Germany too is considering age-based access restrictions to certain services as well as other measures to better protect minors. However, many approaches pose their own challenges, particularly when it comes to finding solutions for age verification that are both effective and low in side effects. A ban on social media for minors also raises participation issues and does not address the risks of other digital services such as online gaming or AI chatbots.
In the current debates, the protection, participation and empowerment of children and adolescents on the Internet must be taken into account and weighed up against each other. The German Ethics Council analyses this ethical area of tension in its Ad Hoc Opinion and sets out 13 recommendations on how to better address the various aspects of the child’s best interests in the digital sphere.