5 March 2026: Discussion/Lecture : Social media ban: Who is really being protected here?

Since Australia banned all under-16s from using social media platforms in December, the debate about the ban has raged on in many countries. Although the German government only set up a commission of experts in September to develop recommendations for protecting children and young people in the digital world, the coalition is now seemingly in a hurry to implement a ban on social media for minors.

However, many experts see things differently. From child and youth welfare organizations to consumer protection associations and data protectionists, there is plenty of criticism of blanket bans on children and young people accessing these platforms. The debate centres on issues such as:

• How usage bans can be circumvented and the possible consequences. If children and young people encounter dangerous or traumatic things online, they will be less likely to talk about it and seek help.
• Young people also have the right to digital participation, access to information and freedom of expression, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Young people also receive meaningful, interesting and socially relevant information via social media platforms.
• Another issue is the age verification required for a ban on all users and the associated risk to anonymous and privacy-friendly internet use. It is not yet clear how age verification will be implemented technically.

We will discuss how children and young people can be meaningfully protected online, whose interests are served by introducing comprehensive age verification on the internet, and why no one is seriously standing in the way of big tech platforms whose business models are becoming increasingly dangerous for democracy and users of all ages.

Our panelists are:

• Carmela Troncoso is Scientific Director of the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and heads the SPRING Lab. She specialises in the development and deployment of secure and privacy-preserving systems, and in the critical analysis of technologies with regard to their social impact. She received her PhD from KU Leuven in 2011. She has received several awards for her work on data protection, including the CNIL-INRIA Privacy Protection Award in 2017. In 2020, she was included in Fortune Magazine's ‘40 under 40 in Technology’ list.
• Elisa Lindinger conducts research at the intersection of technology, culture, and society. As co-founder of SUPERRR Lab, she advocates an intersectional feminist approach to digital policy, putting people back at the heart of tech debates.
• Anne Roth, digital policy advisor to the Left Party in the Bundestag, will moderate the discussion.

The event will be held in German and English. Translation will be provided.