Osnabrück/Berlin, December 4, 2024 – The international children's rights organization Terre des Hommes welcomes the Australian government's initiative to increase protection for children and young people on social media. It is using the 101st Conference of Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs as an opportunity to highlight the urgent need for action on digital child and youth protection in Germany.
"One could certainly argue about whether it's too restrictive to only allow young people in Australia to come into contact with social media from the age of 16," says Joshua Hofert, board spokesperson for Terre des Hommes . "However, we fundamentally welcome the fact that Australia is setting an important example for the protection of children and young people."
In its recently published child labor report Terre des Hommes highlighted that children in Germany, too, are working in the digital space under conditions that are detrimental to their development, health, and education. Particularly critical is the increasing participation of children in the digital channels of commercial family influencers. This represents a billion-dollar business in which families involve their children to earn money, often in front of millions of followers. Minors are thus deliberately exploited for commercial purposes, and their privacy is exposed. Such staged family life endangers the personal safety of children as well as their mental health. It can cause attachment and developmental disorders.
Hamburg has given an important impulse and pleaded for a reform of the Youth Work Protection Act to protect children from exploitation even in digital space. »In our view, the initiative of Hamburg is groundbreaking. On the occasion of today's Labor and Social Ministers' Conference in Hamburg, we ask the Federal Government to initiate a reform of the Youth Labor Protection Act. Germany is lagging behind here - at the expense of children and young people. Clear and verifiable limits are needed for the participation of minors in the channels of family influencers. These have to be developed together with children and adolescents, «says Joshua Hofert.