Seriously harmful to young people - offensive against porn portals

Media supervisors in Germany no longer want to accept that ten-year-olds can consume hard pornography unhindered online. Now they are taking on the big players in the industry.

Düsseldorf (dpa) - "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, on the one hand, we check every trailer on television, but confront children online with unfiltered sexual behavior, we can also leave it at that."

Media regulator Schmid, head of the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, cites the "gangbang" as a negative example, a standard offer of the major porn portals: "When children get the impression that gangbang is a normal sexual practice in which the woman is used and humiliated then that’s definitely an extreme problem. " Children and adolescents should not grow up with such content, after all, that is the core of youth protection.

"For a ten-year-old, dealing with hard pornography is not age-appropriate. The suspicion is obvious that the boundaries of values ​​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 notification to the presumed market leader based in Cyprus has already been sent. For a long time, the porn providers "did what they want". If you have a seat abroad - and most have it - it was difficult for you to get it.

But now is the end of the audience role of the media supervisor: "We are exercising this to the end. Either we can enforce the protection of minors or we have to ask the legislator whether he really wants to leave the situation as it is."

"Blocking networks is a dramatic intervention," says Berlin lawyer Marko Dörre, who acts as a youth protection officer for companies in the industry. "The media regulators could have made use of this as early as 2008. At that time, expert reports confirmed that this was legally possible," reports Dörre.

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 do not know whether this has been discussed with the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM). A KJM chairman has already resigned who wanted to introduce network closures."

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 shy away from revealing their identity for an age check.

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."

In the meantime, however, the media supervisors have found hope and self-confidence that their offensive will not go out like the Hornberg shooting. "We quickly changed course in this way in the gaming sector," reports Schmid.

A provider from Israel deliberately addressed a young target group in the German market and also ignored the protection of minors: "We then announced that we would take action against this app and its distribution. After two to three months there was a change of course and the providers asked us what criteria they have to meet. In the meantime, they comply with the protection of minors. "

Protection of minors is also effective for providers based in Germany. However, these are rather low-reach providers such as local brothels.

One does not violate European law with the path now taken: "After the Cypriot media supervision has refused to intervene, the German youth protection regulations must now be applied. The EU Commission has also been informed of our approach. Now applies: either the providers introduce a proper age verification, or we'll enforce their shutdown. "

Schmid says that there are several porn portals among the 20 most popular online offers in Germany. "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, ie telecommunications companies, to block the illegal content that is harmful to young people.

A large proportion of parents in Germany seem 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.