Dusseldorf (TEH) – “The protection of minors makes no sense if every child can switch from Kikaninchen to Pornhub.” Media supervisor Tobias Schmid is audibly sorry for the current situation and the years of delaying tactics in the porn industry.
“If we check every trailer on television, but confront children online with unfiltered sexual practices, we can do without it.” Media regulator Schmid, boss the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia cites the “gangbang” as a negative example, a standard offer of the major porn portals: “If children get the impression that gangbang is a normal sexual practice in which the woman is used and humiliated, it is certainly an extreme problem.
Children and adolescents shouldn’t grow up with content like that, after all, that’s the essence of youth protection. “For ten-year-olds, dealing with hard pornography is not age-appropriate. The suspicion is obvious that value boundaries are shifting. ” Schmid has now started a push as a nationwide pioneer. He wants to force the porn portals with the greatest reach to introduce an effective age restriction in their German-language offers. A decision has already been sent to the presumed market leader based in Cyprus.
For a long time, the porn providers “did what they want”. If you have a seat abroad – and most of them have it – it was difficult for you to get hold of it. But now the role of spectators for the media supervisor is over: “We are exercising this to the end. Either we can enforce the protection of minors, or we have to ask the legislator if he really wants to leave the situation as it is. Blocking networks is a dramatic intervention, ”says Berlin lawyer Marko Dorre, who acts as a youth protection officer for companies in the industry.
The media regulators could have made use of this back in 2008. At that time, reports attested to them that this was legally possible, ”reports Dorre. He could not imagine that one would now resort to this means not for child pornography or Nazi content, but for simple pornography. “I also don’t know whether this has been agreed with the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM). A KJM chairman has already resigned who wanted to introduce network locks. “The industry’s stubbornness to the demands and appeals of the media guards has a valid commercial reason: Because porn consumption is still taboo, many users are afraid to do an age check The providers have long had legal .de addresses with the verification required by the protection of minors.
But the bulk of the access continues to come via the access-free .com addresses. “It’s a handball trick.” Meanwhile, the media supervisors have found hope and self-confidence that their offensive will not end like the Hornberg shooting. “We quickly changed our course in the gaming sector in this way,” reports Schmid. A provider from Israel had deliberately addressed a young target group in the German market and also ignored the protection of minors: “We then announced against this app and its Spreading. After two to three months there was a change of course and the providers asked us which criteria they had to meet. In the meantime, they comply with the protection of minors. “”The protection of minors is also effective for providers based in Germany. However, these are rather low-reach providers such as local brothels.
European law does not violate the path chosen now: “After the Cypriot media supervision has refused to intervene, the German youth protection regulations must now be applied. The EU Commission was also notified of our approach. Now applies: Either the providers introduce a proper age verification, or we will enforce their shutdown. “Among the 20 online offers with the greatest reach in Germany are several porn portals, says Schmid.
“These online offers are among the largest in the world.” If the providers do not give in, it could be in June or July: “Then we will ask the infrastructure providers, i.e. telecommunications companies, to block the illegal content that is harmful to young people of parents in Germany seems to be behind the procedure, as a representative opinion poll recently commissioned by the children’s aid organization showed: 93 percent of the parents surveyed spoke out in favor of harsher penalties for providers who violated child and youth protection online. The same number of parents spoke in favor of a reliable age test.
