Better Internet for Kids

The French President inaugurated the Children Online Protection Lab in November 2022 following the launch of the Call to stand up for children’s rights in the digital environment and the Declaration on the rights of the child in the digital environment adopted in March 2022. This international initiative aims to bring together governments, tech companies, academic experts and civil society actors to share expertise and best practices and test innovative solutions to protect children online more effectively.

The Law of October 19, 2020 aimed at regulating the commercial exploitation of the image of children under the age of sixteen on online platforms. The law regulates the work of ""child influencers"" on online video platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.). It fills a legal void because nothing was previously provided to protect them. It also gives them a right to digital oblivion that they can exercise alone without their parents.

The Law of March 2, 2022 aimed at combating school bullying creates an offence of bullying that could be punished by up to 10 years in prison in the event of suicide or attempted suicide by the victim. It also improves the right to an education without bullying.

To better protect children on the internet, the law requires manufacturers of connected devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) to install a parental control system and offer its free activation when the device is first put into service. A decree makes the law applicable on September 5, 2022. Another text is still awaited.

"The so-called SREN law to better regulate the digital space and protect Internet users, particularly the youngest, as well as businesses. The law is inspired in particular by the recommendations of three parliamentary reports on the pornography industry and on digital sovereignty . It also results from the European regulations on digital services (DSA) and on digital markets (DMA).

The action of the Ministry of National Education and Youth is part of the framework set by the law of March 2, 2022 aimed at combating school bullying which creates a crime of school bullying. It is based in particular on the deployment of the program for the prevention and fight against bullying (pHARe) mandatory in public schools and colleges since the start of the 2022 school year and extended to public high schools from the start of the 2023 school year.

The program aims to:

Through media and information literacy (MIL), students learn to become responsible citizens in a society marked by the multiplication and acceleration of information flows. They develop their critical thinking and are able to act in an informed manner to seek, receive, produce and disseminate information via increasingly diverse media. Media and information literacy (EMI) is part of the common core of knowledge, skills and culture, the citizenship pathway and the artistic and cultural education pathway.

The Youth Protection Act (Jugendschutzgesetz) sets a policy to protect children in different contexts, including public spaces and online. There are limitations related to children's access to film events, electronic game machines, and other associated industries. It was last amended by Article 12 (2024) on image carriers - films and games. 
(Source: Website).

Entities responsible for implementation: Federal Ministry of Justice / Bundesministerium der Justiz.

The Children and Youth Plan is the central funding instrument for child and youth welfare at federal level. Funding from the KJP supports the services and the performance of other tasks for the benefit of young people and families in accordance with Section 2 of the Social Code Book VIII and creates incentives by securing, strengthening and further developing child and youth welfare as well as by creating framework conditions for an efficient federal infrastructure for child and youth welfare.

The National Action Plan (NAP) for child and youth participation is responsible for further developing the federal government’s youth strategy, focusing on effective participation methods. It ensures youth participation through a dialogue process with children, adolescents and young adults. The initiative is available at all levels: municipal, state and federal.  It plans to develop recommendations for effective child and youth participation in Germany by 2025.
(Source: https://jugendstrategie.de/nap/).