By Lizi Megrelishvili
In the frame of the project Media Dialogue for Pluralism and Understanding Marc Jan Eumann, chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM), talked about the threats facing minors in media in Germany and how they should be protected.
Mr. Eumann highlighted a few important topics starting with general information about KJM, what they do and what their goals are as well as technical aspects and future protection of minors in the media.
KJM was set up in 2003 and was the first body uniting the supervision of the regulations for the protection of minors both in commercial broadcasting and in tele media. It currently acts for 14 out of 16 German media authorities and works to create different ways that can protect the minors.
According to KJM, there are many different challenges that make protection harder. Few examples are: rapid technological development, hate speech, existence of mobile devices that cannot be monitored by parents all the time. And probably the most important challenge is that regulations do not always reflect technological reality.
In order to overcome these challenges, KJM encourages and supports development of technical measures, technical systems such as software that reads age labels implemented in systems or websites. KJM also supports and works to create an age verification system. This is very important since despite all the regulations minors can still access for them illegal content such as pornography. Mr. Eumann mentioned that they even opened a case against twitter because of providing pornography content to minors.
Looking at providers of these contents themselves that could harm children can also help prevent these illegal and harmful actions. As mentioned above, providers can use different technical means to prevent any danger to minors. Creating closed user groups with an age verification system is one way. And there are many more.
Everyone agrees that new technical measures are necessary to protect minors in media, but it is also obvious that no human being is able to watch and control them all the time. That is why artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial. Currently modern technological methods are the best solution. Besides this, effective law enforcement in the internet is crucial as well. Deletion of breaches is important, but the perception that an act is illegal is only guaranteed by consequent criminal prosecution. That also means that providers should engage in everything that is judicially required. In addition, law enforcement can be more effective if it acts internationally and comprehensively.
It should be stressed that regulations need to match children’s behavior: they should be protected where they actually are – mobile devices and different social media. And last but not least, protection of minors in media and media literacy should be combined. They should go hand in hand. To protect children, their parents, teachers, etc. should also be educated and advised regarding these issues.
These are just few challenges and measures regarding the protection of minors in media represented by KJM. Just as Mr. Eumann mentioned, these cases are not very easy to solve. They require hard and careful work which could take a very long time. But this gives us each and every one of us more reasons to work even harder to protect children. It is very important to create a safe environment for them and for their future development.
