{"id":780547,"date":"2026-02-22T01:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T01:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/780547\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T01:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T01:38:21","slug":"merzs-party-in-germany-plans-to-restrict-teenagers-access-to-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/780547\/","title":{"rendered":"Merz&#8217;s party in Germany plans to restrict teenagers&#8217; access to social media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The German conservative bloc CDU\/CSU has put forward an initiative for strict regulation of teenagers&#8217; access to popular online platforms to protect their mental health. Politicians propose introducing mandatory age verification to limit the negative impact of social media algorithms on minors. This is reported by Bloomberg, writes <b>UNN<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Details<\/p>\n<p>According to the proposal of Chancellor Friedrich Merz&#8217;s party, social networks must introduce effective verification mechanisms that would prevent children younger than a certain age threshold from registering. The CDU emphasizes that modern platforms contribute to the spread of disinformation, cyberbullying, and cause addiction, which requires decisive legislative steps at the state level.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"bodyLinkItem\" href=\"https:\/\/unn.ua\/en\/news\/the-uk-government-is-introducing-strict-safety-rules-for-chatbots-to-protect-children-from-harmful-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The UK government is introducing strict safety rules for chatbots to protect children from harmful content16.02.26, 03:02 \u2022 4585 views<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"quoteContent\" style=\"text-align:left\">We can no longer stand by and watch algorithms manipulate the minds of our children unchecked. Protecting young people in the digital space must become as much a priority as safety on the streets<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 said the CDU representative for digital policy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Impact on tech giants and future regulation<\/p>\n<p>The new initiative could force companies like Meta, TikTok, and X to significantly revise their operating rules in the German market. Although critics fear restrictions on digital freedoms, supporters of the bill point to the experience of other countries where similar measures have already helped reduce anxiety levels among teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>The German government plans to thoroughly work out the technical aspects of age verification to ensure a balance between security and user data privacy.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"bodyLinkItem\" href=\"https:\/\/unn.ua\/en\/news\/eu-to-investigate-shein-over-sale-of-weapons-and-child-like-sex-dolls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EU to investigate Shein over sale of weapons and child-like sex dolls17.02.26, 15:21 \u2022 3242 views<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The German conservative bloc CDU\/CSU has put forward an initiative for strict regulation of teenagers&#8217; access to popular&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824],"class_list":{"0":"post-780547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116111730496564403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}