Heidi Reichinnek, the chairwoman of The Left’s faction in the Bundestag, sharply criticized the federal government in the debate over a social‑media ban for children. “Especially mental health and loneliness among young people are burning issues” she told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” on its free weekend editions. “But instead of finally securing the necessary funds for a genuine child‑basic income, well-equipped youth services, therapeutic services and youth centres – to name just a few examples – Union and SPD politicians stylize the debate as a matter of age limits on social media and elevate it to the only decisive question”.
Reichinnek said a ban is “cheap to implement” and demanded that the root of the problem be addressed. She called for media education and points of contact where young people and parents can seek help. In her view, age limits on social media only serve to distract. “The government may pat itself on the back for a few weeks because by imposing age limits it pretends to care for children and adolescents. Yet they will continue to suffer from the government’s anti‑social politics and its compulsive cuts, just as it disproportionately affects them” she said.
She pointed out that there are far too many problems for which both federal and state governments could take action – from injustice in education and the lack of school‑social work and youth work to child poverty. “The ‘serious sin’ against children and young people is that they simply receive no priority in government policy” she added.
Reichinnek referred to an earlier statement by Schleswig‑Holstein’s Minister President Daniel Günther (CDU) to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”, where he acknowledged the harmful influence of social networks: “We have committed a grave sin in recent years by failing to recognize this too late and doing nothing. We share substantial responsibility for the damage caused to the younger generation because we did not fulfill our duty as a protective state”.