nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/5a6fa658c0600256 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 260220s2026||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/5a6fa658c0600256 doi eng 342 23 Wapler, Friederike Author aut “Just the Illusion of Protection” - Five Questions to Friederike Wapler Wapler, Friederike Verfassungsblog 2026-02-20 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier In December 2025, Australia became the first country to introduce a statutory age limit for social media. This week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz indicated that he views similar proposals from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with “considerable sympathy.” Beyond the detailed regulatory questions underlying such a ban – EU competences, app design, enforceability – the debate raises fundamental constitutional issues: How does the German Basic Law allocate responsibility between the state, parents, and children? What is the role of protection, and where does paternalism begin? CC BY-SA 4.0 Bredler, Eva Maria Author aut Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/just-the-illusion-of-protection/ raw object