German Parents Calls for More Online Protection for Kids, Teens – Survey

The majority of German parents believe that their children and teens should have further online protection from web content, a new survey showed.

The survey’s results announced by the German Children’s Aid Society on Monday showed that most parents are aware that their children had negative experiences on the Internet.

More than half of the participants (55 percent) said they noticed “an excessive use of social media” among their children who were exposed to bullying, violence, or inappropriate content.

Based on the results, the society called for tightening the rules regulating the work of online apps and game providers in Germany and abroad. It also denounced the fact that users can access internet with a simple tick in the “I am 18-years-old” box in most cases.

For their part, parents called for the restriction of some contents based on an accurate verification of the user’s age.

According to the survey, 30 percent of children and teenagers dealt with threatening messages such as “bad things will happen” if you do not send the message or perform a certain task.

The survey was carried out between June 18 and August 8, 2019, and it involved 1,003 parents who have at least one child under 18 years old.