The Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection in the Media (Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz, BzKJ) is a federal agency linked to the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is located in Bonn, Germany.
The Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection was created as part of the second Amendment of the Youth Protection Act (Jugendschutzgesetz, JuSchG) which came into force on 1 May 2021. The reform modernized legal protection of minors from harmful media and aligned it with the digital media reality of children and young people today. The aim is to ensure effective protection of children and young people also with regard to digital media, reliable guidance for parents and professionals and law enforcement also against providers which are not based in Germany.
The legal predecessors of the Federal Agency were the Federal Review Board for Publications Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften – BPjS) and the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien – BPjM), which were founded in 1954 respectively 2003.
Aims
The aim of the Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection in the Media (hereafter BzKJ) is to protect children and young people when using media and to enable them to participate safely in digital media.
These core aims of the BzKJ's work are particularized by § 10a of the Youth Protection Act (further JuSchG). Accordingly, protection in the field of media includes:
- protection from content that impairs the development of minors (entwicklungsbeeinträchtigende Medien).
- protection from content harmful to minors (jugendgefährdende Medien),
- the protection of the personal integrity of minors when using the media and
- the promotion of orientation for children, young people, persons with custody and pedagogical staff in regards to media use and media education.
The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC), which formulates far-reaching children's rights with regard to protection, empowerment and participation, also guides the work of the BzKJ. The participation of children and young people in the work of the BzKJ is a central concern and a prerequisite for youth media protection geared to the needs of children and young people.
Statutory tasks
The BzKJ's statutory tasks have been regulated in § 17a JuSchG since its amendment and have been significantly expanded compared to the former Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors:
- According to § 17a paragraph 1 JuSchG, the BzKJ maintains the Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors, which continues the tasks of the former Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors. The Review Board is responsible for indexing of media harmful to young people and their inclusion in the List of Media Harmful to Young People.
- The BzKJ, in accordance with § 17a (2), promotes the so-called joint exercise of responsibility by the government, industry and civil society in regards to the protection of minors in the media. To this end, the BzKJ has been hosting joint workshops (ZUKUNFTSWERKSTATT) for discourse and communication for all involved entities since 2018 and continues its work under the renewed JuSchG.
- According to § 17a (2) No. 2, the BzKJ provides orientation for parents/legal guardians as well as professionals who work with children and promotes public discourse on the protection of minors.
- According to § 17a (3) of the amended JuSchG the BzKJ has been appointed supervisory board over digital service providers. Service providers are, according to § 24 JuSchG legally obliged to provide certain precautionary measures to enable children and young people to participate safely in the digital world. The BzKJ monitors the fulfilment of these legal obligations in a procedure called “dialogic regulation” described in § 24b JuSchG.
- The BzKJ has received financial funding authority via § 17a (4) JuSchG. The focus of these promotional capacities has been set on projects fostering child-friendly access to the Internet.
Fulfilling its broad range of statutory tasks, the BzKJ is advised by an advisory board. In the spirit of article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and legally anchored in § 17b JuSchG a direct participation of children and young people in this advisory board is laid down.
Divisions
The BzKJ consists of
- a management level, consisting of the Director, the Deputy Director as well as a division for overall managing (Division for Press and Public Relations, General Policy Issues and Strategy)
- the Division for Central Tasks (administration)
- an IT unit, including IT and Information Management/technical youth media protection as well as IT security
as well as two specialized divisions fulfilling the statutory tasks according to the JuSchG:
- Division for the Legal Protection of Youth in the Media / Review Board
- Division for further Development of Child and Youth Protection in the Media
In addition, the independent Federal Office for the Enforcement of Children's Rights in digital Services (KidD) is located within the BzKJ. It monitors compliance with key obligations for providers of digital services under the Digital Services Act (DSA) as well as film and gaming platforms that offer a complete range of content are obliged to label all content with an age rating.
The director of the BzKJ is currently Sebastian Gutknecht.
Indexing (Indizierung)
Media that are likely to endanger the development of children or young people or their upbringing to become responsible and socially competent personalities (jugendgefährdende Medien) are to be included in the List of Media Harmful to Young People following a decision by the Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors (§ 18 (1) JuSchG). Strict distribution and advertising restrictions for children and young people are linked to this listing (indexing) of media.
The corresponding procedure by the Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors can come about in two ways: through the application of an institution that has been specially authorized by law to do so or through the suggestion of a youth welfare agent.
Upon application or suggestion, the Review Board will verify whether the media submitted to it are harmful to young people. Content that is considered to be harmful to young people can be brutalizing, incite violence, crime or racial hatred or are immoral (§ 18 (1) JuSchG), for example content that
- instigates violence, crime or racism,
- glorifies National-Socialism or war,
- discriminates,
- glorifies anorexia or suicide,
- depicts children and adolescents in unnatural, sexually provocative physical postures.
The decision on the inclusion of a medium in the List of Media Harmful to Young People (indexing) is reached in a court-like procedure by the BzKJs Review Board in pluralistic and interdisciplinary review committees as the central decision-making body. In these procedures, the author, the owner of the rights of use, and in case of telemedia the provider, and/or their procedural representatives have the opportunity to comment, either in writing or verbally during the examination session. In the procedure, the constitutional right to protect minors must always be weighted against the fundamental rights of the rights holders in individual cases, such as freedom of art and freedom of expression. If a medium is indexed, the decision is announced in the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger) with reference to the underlying ruling (§ 24 (3) JuSchG).
The indexing is connected to far-reaching restrictions of sale, distribution and advertising under federal law (JuSchG) and the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Human Dignity and the Protection of Minors in Broadcasting and in Telemedia (Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag JMStV) as state law. This makes the medium inaccessible to minors but on the other hand ensures that adults are not excluded from using this medium. Violations of the restrictions are punishable by law.
Risk assessment and mitigation (ZUKUNFTSWERKSTATT)
The BzKJ, in accordance with § 17a (2) JuSchG, promotes the view that the further development of child and youth protection in the media is a shared responsibility of government, industry and civil society. To this end, the BzKJ has hosted joint workshops (ZUKUNFTSWERKSTATT) since 2018 for the dialog among all involved entities and continues its work under the new JuSchG. The workshops bring together media providers and interdisciplinary experts from child rights and media education practice to engage in a mutual risk assessment and work on an overall strategy for intelligent risk management in an ever-evolving and fast paced digital environment.
The current main topics of the workshops are
- Sexual violence and harassment in the digital space,
- Endangerment of the capacity for democracy,
- Loss of control in digital environments.
Also, the publication “Gefährdungsatlas” (encyclopedia of risks) was created as part of comprehensive risk assessment. It offers an up-to-date, scientifically based framework on the challenges and threats to the development of children and young people when using digital media and lays the groundwork for much of the BzKJs work.
Advisory Board (Beirat)
The BzKJ has set up an advisory board in accordance with § 17b JuSchG to support the fulfilment of its statutory tasks. With a holistic, interdisciplinary and child-rights-oriented view, the advisory board focuses on the well-being and interests of children and young people and advocates for their rights to protection, empowerment and participation in the digital world in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN General Comment No. 25.
The Advisory Board consists of twelve people (each with one deputy) from various social institutions who are particularly committed to realizing the rights and protection of children and young people: representatives of children's rights organizations, child and youth protection, independent welfare organizations, family associations, associations for the disabled, the medical profession, (media) pedagogy and those particularly affected by the risks of digital media use. According to § 17b JuSchG, two of the twelve advisory board members (each with a deputy) must be no older than 17 years old at the time of their appointment.
The BzKJ is thus to be considered the first higher federal authority that legally implements the participation of children and young people in its advisory board, integrating their perspectives into its professional work and recognizing their participatory rights.