Internet & Online Safety - Germany

The Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz entered into force on 14 May 2024 as the core German act giving effect to the DSA; it repealed most of the Telemedia Act and largely repealed the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), retaining only narrow provisions such as the domestic authorized recipient for non-EU entities.

The Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) became Germany's central platform supervisory authority and Digital Services Coordinator in May 2024, monitoring intermediary services for DSA compliance, running a public complaints portal and coordinating with other German and EU authorities.

Platform liability and content-moderation obligations (notice-and-action, transparency, trusted flaggers, illegal-content removal) flow from the DSA itself; the DDG sets national competent authorities and penalties. The DSC reported 824 complaints in 2024 and had opened four administrative proceedings by year-end.

The JMStV requires content harmful to minors (pornography, gambling/betting, alcohol/tobacco sales, extreme violence) to be locked behind a KJM-approved age-verification system. The 14 state media authorities (Landesmedienanstalten) and the joint KJM enforce these rules across all 'telemedia' services.

Amendments to the JMStV took effect on 1 December 2025: state regulators gained power to order banks/payment providers to block payments to non-compliant adult sites, and a new Section 12 obligates operating-system providers to ship a 'youth protection device' with a one-click child/youth mode and age settings.

Under the amended JMStV, the KJM must designate by December 2026 which operating systems (e.g. Apple, Google, Microsoft) are commonly used by minors; designated providers then face a one-year deadline to full compliance by December 2027, including app-store age ratings tied to a child-protection mode.