A representative of Germany’s Greens party has come out in favour of a total ban on social media for children and youths.
Cem Özdemir, former education minister until May 2025, told news agency dpa on August 11 he wanted to forbid everybody under the age of 16 from gaining access to platforms such as TikTok or Instagram.
“We do not let youths get behind the wheel without a driver’s licence. You need to take driving lessons first and learn gradually'” he said.
“That is how we have to do it with social media, too. That is why I think and age limit for TikTok and other social media is the right thing.
“And this limit should be at 16,” Özdemir said.
He added young people should learn to use smartphones and digital media “responsibly” first through guidance from parents, teachers and other adults.
Özdemir went on to recount how he recently met a group of youths who told him they were “overwhelmed by what is raining down on them” and said that clear rules would help them.
“We are leaving youths alone with social media,” he said.
Özdemir is currently running for prime minister of the State of Baden-Wurttemberg in southwest Germany where The Greens came in first at the last election in 2021 with 33 per cent of the vote.
Until May 2025 he was minister for agriculture and education in Germany’s former left-wing federal government.
Özdemir’s proposal has not been welcomed with enthusiasm. The German Teachers’ Association has said it considered a social media ban unrealistic and not effective.
Ulrich van Suntum, an economist and former politician for the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said on X on August 12: “Özdemir wants the government to ban young people from using social media!
“Of course, these are the only media outlets that are not yet controlled by his party and/or the Social Democratic Party. A complete ban for everyone will probably be the next step, just as they are doing with the opposition.
“If anything is truly dangerous for our democracy, it is a party that acts in such a totalitarian manner as The Greens,” van Suntum wrote.
Özdemir’s initiative, though, may be well received by the ruling Christian Democratic Union.
In June 2025, Daniel Günther, the CDU Prime Minister of the Northern State of Schleswig-Holstein, had also demanded a ban on social media for under-16-year-olds.
