Commitment to the protection of minors

The German Association for Voluntary Self-Regulation of Digital Media Service Providers (FSM e. V.) is a non-profit registered association concerned with the protection of young people in online media.

Together with its member companies and associations, the FSM is doing important work to strengthen youth media protection and keep in check online media content that is illegal or is harmful to young persons or impairs their development. The FSM also operates a hotline that any user can call on to report online content that is criminal or harmful to young persons. The FSM’s other core functions include extensive educational work and promoting media literacy in children and adults.

The FSM is an established contact for many market-determining companies as well as political actors with regard to the protection of minors on the Internet.

A selection of Best Cases – projects realised in cooperation or with the support of the FSM – you can find here.

Mission of the association
at a glance

  • Legal, technical and pedagogical advice for FSM members
  • Representation in (inter)national committees
  • Hotline for online content
  • Promotion of media competence of children, young people and adults

Association documents

“Tailor-made youth protection and media literacy – that’s what we at the FSM stand up for.”

Martin Drechsler, FSM Managing Director

Portrait Martin Drechsler

Voluntary self-regulation

The FSM has been an officially recognised voluntary self-regulation association since 2005 and as such is part of the regulated self-regulation system that operates in Germany.

Recognised self-regulation associations function as a buffer between the state authorities and their member companies. All regular FSM members benefit from this “privilege” effect: in the event of disputes with the federal authorities, first the FSM is engaged as an intermediary, thereby legally ruling out direct sanctions.

In addition the FSM also helps its clients evaluate legal, technical and educational issues, providing them with custom-tailored advice and access to new developments and opportunities in the field of youth protection.

What does regulated self-regulation mean?

The regulated self-regulation system for youth media protection that has been in operation in the field of telemedia since April 2003 provides for a cooperation between the state and the industry, with the state generating the legal framework and the corresponding structures. This makes it possible for recognised self-regulation organisations like the FSM to act independently and exercise a control function in respect of their members. Meanwhile, the state is in a position to use the regulatory framework and the corresponding control options to prevent undesirable developments.

The Internet is especially notable for its international nature and the speed with which content changes, making a system of self-regulation on the part of the providers essential. Self-monitoring makes it possible to react more flexibly and quickly to changes than state control that adopts legal solutions via time-consuming legislative processes.

Media literacy

The promotion of media literacy among children, young people and adults is an essential element of youth media protection.

We support parents, teachers and adolescents through various media education offers to use digital media safely and self-confidently. We want to encourage adolescents to actively participate in shaping the digitalised society and to protect them from the equally diverse potential dangers at the same time.

Learn more about our media literacy projects.

Our extensive educational work aims at encouraging adolescents to actively participate in shaping the digitalised society and to protect them from the equally diverse potential dangers at the same time.

Board

Portraitfoto Gabriele Schmeichel

President
Gabriele Schmeichel
Director Protection of Minors – Deutsche Telekom AG

Porträtfoto Sabine Frank

Vice-President
Sabine Frank
Director Government Affairs & Public Policy DACH – Google Ireland Ltd

Porträtfoto Philippe Gröschel

Treasurer
Philippe Gröschel
Youth Protection Officer/Director Government Relations, Legal & Corporate Affairs – Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG

Portraitfoto Dr. Guido Brinkel

Dr. Guido Brinkel
Head of Government Affairs/Senior Director Government Affairs – Microsoft Deutschland GmbH

Porträtfoto Melanie Endemann

Melanie Endemann
Youth Protection Officer – Vodafone GmbH

Porträtfoto Daniela Hansjosten

Daniela Hansjosten
Responsible Editor Standards & Practices/ Youth Protection Officer Online – RTL Deutschland GmbH

KJahn; Foto: Bettina Theisinger / (c) Warner Bros. Discovery

Klaus Jahn
Youth Protection Officer/Head of Standards & Practices GSA, Nordics – Warner Bros. Discovery

Poträtfoto Sandra Singer

Sandra Singer
Director Protection of Minors – Sky Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG

Porträtfoto Nathaly Zenke

Nathaly Zenke
Manager Governmental Relations & Regulatory Affairs/In-House Attorney – ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE

Coopted Board Members

Porträtfoto Daniela Beaujean

Daniela Beaujean
Managing Director – VAUNET Verband Privater Medien e.V.

Porträtfoto Susanne Dehmel

Susanne Dehmel
Managing Director Law and Security – Bitkom e.V.

Our members

 Regular members
 Associated members
 Sponsoring members

History

9 July 1997
Foundation of the FSM in Cologne/Bonn. Founding members of the FSM included, for example, the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) and the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) as well as the German Network Information Center e.G. (DeNIC), Deutsche Telekom AG and VAUNET – Verband Privater Medien.

1998
Registration as a non-profit association in the Bonn Register of Associations. The membership structure consisted of regular and sponsoring members, from whose ranks the honorary board was elected. The first chairperson of the board of the FSM was Dr Detlev Müller-Using (Deutsche Telekom AG). The hotline too was established in the founding articles.

2000 and 2001
The place of business was moved to Berlin in 2000, and the FSM was entered into the Berlin Register of Associations.
In 2001, the full-time office was set up in Berlin, and Sabine Frank appointed Director.

2003
The members’ assembly passed a resolution reorienting the FSM, transforming it from an association of associations into an association of companies. Since then, the number of member companies has risen steadily, and the FSM now represents the interests of over 40 members.

2005
The FSM was recognised by the the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM) and by the Media Authority of Berlin-Brandenburg as a voluntary self-regulation institution.

2020
The FSM has been recognised as an institution of regulated self-regulation recognised by NetzDG. Full members of the FSM had the possibility, in more difficult cases, to consult an external body which decides on the illegality of the reported content. In view of the repeal of the NetzDG by the Digital Services Act, the FSM has discontinued its work in this area in June 2023.

Voluntary commitments

Developing voluntary commitments the FSM is setting high standards in youth protection.

The function of a self-regulation organisation like the FSM is to breathe life into the prescribed legal framework on a practical level. If industry standards are developed in collaboration with these companies, this guarantees that youth protection will be both maintained and implemented in practice. The rules determined in these voluntary commitments are based on legal principles, though they also have the particular advantage that they can be adapted more quickly and flexibly to new trends and technologies.

The FSM has developed codes of conduct for various areas of the online world. Already in 2007 the FSM had drawn up a declaration of commitment in association with the mobile phone companies which included, among others, information to parents on topics relevant to youth protection when concluding a contract, and the optimisation of online information about companies. Also in 2007 the FSM also worked with German chat providers to develop a voluntary code of conduct designed to improve protection for children and adolescents when using chat services in Germany: presence of moderators, reporting and ignore functions, a bad word list and age verification became obligatory. A code of conduct for social network providers was developed in 2009.

2005, Germany’s best-known search engine providers came together under the umbrella of the FSM to found Selbstkontrolle Suchmaschinen (Self-Regulation for Search Engines). This is the world’s first initiative in which key players in the search engine sector have come together on the basis of a voluntary commitment to agree unified standards designed to ensure consumer protection and youth protection while still preserving freedom of expression and avoiding censorship.

By signing the code, these search engines committed themselves to the following measures:

  • public education and information on how search engines work
  • transparent structuring and display of search results (to include identification of advertising)
  • use of technical instruments for protecting children and adolescents from harmful content
  • basic principle of data economy when dealing with user data
  • non-display of Internet addresses listed on the “Index of media harmful to young persons”

Despite its technical limitations, teletext remains as popular as ever. One key reason may be that teletext is very easy to use and quickly accessible. Particularly in the field of advertising via teletext, there are areas that require special attention in terms of youth media protection. FSM member companies active in the teletext sector as content or service providers have pooled their efforts, developing among other things a joint code of conduct which includes:

  • no use of illegal content or content illegal for minors, or content liable to impair development
  • signatories undertake to refrain from advertising any services that they know for a fact to be in breach of current youth media protection law
  • use of the rules for the assessment of text and graphic elements in teletext

Best Cases: Shaping online youth protection together!

The FSM cooperates in many ways with companies that are committed to online youth protection and digital media education for children, young people and adults. Together we develop and implement new ideas.

WAKE UP!

Cooperation partner: O2 Telefónica
Project: Initiative against cyberbullying
Period: since 2020

The “WAKE UP!” initiative of O2 Telefónica together with the FSM, YAEZ and Cybermobbing-Hilfe e.V. is setting an example against cyberbullying, misinformation and hate speech. The digital awareness and educational initiative offers young people but also their parents and teachers a six-part video series, five interactive learning modules as well as teaching materials including an interactive digital whiteboard. The initiative intends to actively help dealing with cyberbullying and to learn about concrete measures of prevention and intervention.

WAKE UP!

Google Safety Centre for families

Cooperation partner: Google
Project: Information website for families
Period: since 2021

The safety centre for families is a German-language offer created by Google, together with the FSM and other youth protection organisations. It provides helpful materials for families to support the shared use of technology. For example, families.google provides parents with tips on how to deal with media in everyday family life, help with establishing digital ground rules and recommendations for products that can support learning, for example.

families.google

Projects and cooperations

The FSM is involved in numerous projects and is cooperating in many ways with institutions that engage in online protection and media literacy education of minors.

Read more

Frequently asked questions

Who is the FSM and what does it do? How do youth protection programmes work? How can parents guide their children in the safe use of digital media? Find answers to these and other questions.

Read more