Pictures of your child on YouTube, discriminatory statements in comments, nasty jibes in the Messenger group or forbidden symbols: Content on the Internet can cause trouble for many reasons. However, they don’t appear anywhere on the web, but concretely on platforms, apps and websites. And there you can also report this.

Providers try to set rules and monitor them to the extent they can. There are even laws for this, such as the Youth Protection Act. When content is reported, the platform must check within a short time whether it is punishable content and delete it. For this, the platforms depend on the participation and help of the users. Whether on YouTube. WhatsApp, Instagram or TikTok: Everywhere, you or your child can report content that may violate platform policies or a law. For example, reporting racist content has increased dramatically in recent years, according to YouTube and Facebook.

Reviews and comments from other users or parents can also be helpful with apps or games if you are unsure if they are suitable. For example, the app stores often indicate when there are a lot of ads or in-app purchases, or when a game is very violent. If you or your child have had your own experiences, or if content seems suspicious to you, share it with others, taking advantage of this valuable opportunity to support each other.

We are all consumers, which means we buy food and other things, use services such as the hairdresser. Consumer protection is intended to ensure, among other things, that products and services are safe and reasonably priced. In terms of the Internet, consumer protection is also about content. For example, we should be protected from inciting statements in a forum, depictions on a website that are harmful to minors, or unwanted e-mails (spam). If you come across such content despite legal regulations, you should report it. These facilities, among others, are responsible for this:

• Complaints and problematic content from the Internet can be reported at www.internet-beschwerdestelle.de.
• General support on consumer rights can be found at the consumer centers.

Youth media protection is the generic term for the protection of underage children and young people from harmful influences through media. There are various institutions that deal with the protection of minors from harmful media. There you can get more detailed information on topics concerning the protection of minors from harmful media and report harmful content:

• The Voluntary Self-Regulation of Multimedia Service Providers(FSM e.V.) is a self-regulatory body for the protection of minors in online media in the area of telemedia.
• Jugendschutz.net serves to ensure compliance with youth protection regulations on Internet offerings.
• At www.sicher-online-gehen.de, a federal, state and business initiative offers help to protect children on the Internet.

General

• Klicksafe offers a general media guide for parents with information on various media and current topics.
• The independent platform Internet-ABC provides information on safe use of the Internet for parents, educators and children.
• Youth and Media is an advisory service from Switzerland for parents, teachers and educators with articles about various media and current topics.
• The Federal Conference for Educational Counseling lists many tips and hints on parenting – also in relation to media.
• Schau-hin is a general guide and offers answers to many media-related questions.
• Scoyo, the online magazine for parents, offers topics such as learning, school, and family life, as well as the media literacy category.
• Handysektor is actually aimed directly at young people, but it can also be a good source of information for parents about hot apps and the like.
• At www.mediennutzungsvertrag.de, you can find a tool for jointly creating a family media use agreement.

Online games

• Spielbar is a project of the Federal Agency for Civic Education with pedagogical assessments, current topics and articles for parents and educators on computer and online games.
• The Spieleratgeber-NRW is a service of the Fachstelle für Jugendmedienkultur NRW with a large number of featured and reviewed games, as well as a more general guide around topics such as legal aspects or media effects.
• The game room is a project of the TH Köln with general information about games and current game trends as an information site for adults.

Security

• Saferinternet.at is an internet blog all about safety on the net with information for different target groups, including a video blog on parenting issues and articles on current topics.
• The site of the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Young People provides information on dangerous content as well as general information on topics such as age ratings.
• You can also report online content harmful to minors to the complaints office of the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimediadienste-Anbieter e. V. ( Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers ).
• The site Deutschland sicher im Netz (Germany safe on the Net ) deals with topics related to safety on the Net and media literacy in general.