Reprimand for AfD Brandenburg: election campaign video is now FSK 16

The AfD in Brandenburg must either delete a video published on social media from the 2024 state election campaign or use technical means to prevent children and young people from having access to it. This was decided by the Commission for Youth Media Protection (KJM) of the state media authorities.

A review by the committee revealed that the clip contained “developmentally impairing content” that served “blanket stereotypes.” Children and young people under the age of 16 would not be able to classify them and should therefore not see them.

In the video, people with dark skin are generally shown in threatening depictions, said the director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority (MABB), Eva Flecken, to the German Press Agency.

The MABB initiated a media law supervisory procedure for the AfD video published in September and checked the content for potential violations of the State Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media. After hearing those affected, she handed the case over to the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media, which in its decision established the impairment of development.

The AfD Brandenburg can take legal action against the decision and file a lawsuit before the administrative court. “It’s not censorship,” said KJM chairman Marc Jan Eumann, who is also director of the Rhineland-Palatinate media authority.

Rather, it is about a subsequent examination of content based on legal regulations for the protection of minors in the media. The video was not banned either. It is simply not suitable for every age group.