The German Federal Data Protection Commissioner, Louisa Specht‑Riemenschneider, has spoken out against a blanket ban on social‑media use for minors. She warns that such a measure would “cut all platforms with one stroke” imposing disproportionate barriers not only on big network sites but also on smaller networks and youth‑specific services. A spokesperson for the agency explained the comment to “Handelsblatt” (Tuesday issue).
She described an age‑based restriction as a “techno‑political decision” that touches on several areas, including child protection, media policy, and digital policy. From a data‑protection perspective, the focus lies less on the specific age threshold and more on how the restriction is enforced. The key requirement is that age‑verification systems uphold the principles of data minimisation and proportionality.
To achieve this, the agency pointed to zero‑knowledge solutions, such as those discussed for the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI‑Wallet). In these methods, the user’s exact birth date or full identification data is not transmitted; instead, the system simply confirms that the required age has been reached.