Advocating for effective online youth protection

Digital media inform, entertain, connect people and promote creativity. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that young people have the right to access these media and participate in them. However, older primary school children in particular often lack suitable, age-appropriate offerings that not only protect them, but also enable them to participate and inspire them.

Children aged nine to thirteen, known as pre-teens, are in an important transitional phase: too old for traditional children’s media, but not yet old enough for cross-age platforms. Simply excluding them from services without offering them attractive alternatives misses the mark – and ultimately runs counter to the idea of protection, empowerment and participation of young people.

Contemporary media protection for children and young people must take the lives of young people seriously and offer them spaces that they want to visit voluntarily. A triad of child-friendly offerings, special solutions for the transitional age and secure settings within cross-age platforms is needed. The FSM considers media education-based guidance, parental support and the strengthening of media literacy to be central elements.

Pre-teens usually have their own smartphones, explore the internet independently, and often use platforms that aren’t designed with their needs in mind – frequently without parental guidance. Recognising the unique challenges faced by this age group, FSM and the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen (FSF) took a closer look at their digital experiences in an expert event:

At the conference “medien impuls” held on 12 March 2024, experts highlighted significant gaps in online services, protection strategies and media education for pre-teens. As parental involvement in guiding media use tends to decline during this stage, there’s a growing need for digital spaces that are both safe and appealing for this transitional age group.

Event recording (in German)

Media literacy remains essential for protecting children and young people in today’s digital world. The FSM supports parents and educators with practical, targeted media education offers that equip them to accompany young users safely and competently online.

The FSM sees families, schools, and extracurricular education as central to fostering media literacy. FSM’s ongoing mission with its projects such as Elternguide.online, Medien in die Schule  and weitklick  is to support these stakeholders in enabling children and young people to participate safely, responsibly, and actively in digital society.

In 2024, the FSM’s media education team focused particularly on advancing parental media education work. New hands-on formats were developed to help parents confidently support their children in the digital environment. One example is the federally funded project “Parent-Inspos for Children’s Websites” (see more below). The project contributes to a safer, more informed digital experience for families – making platforms for children more participatory and support for parents more accessible. Funding was provided by the Federal Centre for the Protection of Minors in the Media (BzKJ).

Who ensures that children and young people can use online media safely? While parents provide guidance through media education, digital services must meet legal requirements to protect minors. As a recognised self-regulatory body, the FSM supports providers in fulfilling this responsibility.

Since 2005, the FSM has been part of Germany’s regulated co-regulation system, operating independently within a legal framework. In addition to the German Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag – JMStV), legal obligations also arise from the German Protection of Young Persons Act (Jugendschutzgesetz – JuSchG) and the European Digital Services Act (DSA). Supervision is provided by national institutions like the state media authorities, the Federal Centre for the Protection of Minors in the Media (Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz – BzKJ) as well as the newly established Federal Office for the Enforcement of Children’s Rights in digital Services (Stelle zur Durchsetzung von Kinderrechten in digitalen Diensten – KidD), with whom the FSM works closely.

Technical youth protection tools, such as age verification systems, youth protection programmes, or age labels, help limit access to inappropriate content based on age. The FSM advises providers on implementation and encourages voluntary, proactive safety measures that go beyond legal obligations. Providers can submit their tools for expert review. In 2024, several solutions were certified in line with the JMStV.

With the amendment of the JMStV (adopted in December 2024), new regulations are expected to come into force on 1 December 2025: New mechanisms at the operating system level will be introduced, and self-regulatory bodies like the FSM will gain official authority to assess age verification tools – reinforcing their central role in modern youth media protection.