Providers of operating systems such as Microsoft, Apple, or Google will have to ensure in the future that they have a “youth safety device”. Its aim is to ensure that porn filters are installed at a basic level of PCs, laptops, smart TVs, game consoles and smartphones, and to introduce age ratings for websites and apps. This is stipulated by the latest reform of the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag, JMSTV), which state parliaments passed on Wednesday after Brandenburg softened its stance on the 6th Interstate Media Amendment Treaty.
The core of the JMStV amendment, which has been debated for years and which state prime ministers agreed upon about a year ago: End devices that are also commonly used by minors must be able to be switched to child or youth mode with filters at the operating system level by parents at the press of a button. Its purpose is to protect young people on the Internet from age-inappropriate content such as pornography, violence, hate speech, incitement and misinformation.
Use of normal browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari will only be possible in special mode if they have a “Safe Search function” or if insecure access is enabled individually and securely. In general, the use of browsers and programs should be “excluded individually and securely”. Only apps that have an approved youth safety program or comparable suitable device themselves will be accessible regardless of the pre-defined age group.
Financial disruption and the end of mirror domains
The Youth Media Protection Commission (KJM) describes the filtering process as a “one-button solution”. This should enable parents to “secure devices for age-appropriateness with just one click.” The new operating system approach will come into effect no later than December 1, 2027. For devices that are already being produced, the announcement of the decision on the applicability of the provision will impose a three-year transitional period for the implementation of software devices. Devices already on the market whose operating systems are no longer updated will be excluded.
States also want to prevent the fraud of blocking orders by erotic portals such as Pixabay, Pornhub, Youporn, or MyDirtyHobby by using so-called mirror domains – that is, the distribution of identical content under minimally changed web addresses. For a page to be treated as a mirror page and blocked quickly without a new process, it must contain essentially the same content as the already blocked original.
Furthermore, state media authorities may prevent financial service providers and system operators from conducting payment transactions with providers abroad as well. This will enable media watchdogs to, for example, suspend payment transactions of users of erotic portals through credit cards through banks. No prior action is necessary against the content providers themselves. Controllers are required to designate only payment service providers making permissible offers.
Operating system manufacturers, technical associations and the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) sharply criticized the draft law. They particularly consider the filtering requirement technically and practically infeasible, as well as legally questionable.
(WPL)
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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.