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In a ruling of 30 June 2026, the Berlin Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht Berlin – VG) dismissed the claim brought by RT DE Productions GmbH challenging the German media regulator’s 2022 objection to and prohibition of the RT DE television channel. The court rejected the main argument put forward by the Berlin-based broadcaster that it was not the provider itself but that its parent company, TV Novosti, based in Russia, was the provider. Consequently, the ban on RT DE which, it is undisputed, did not hold a licence in Germany was also deemed lawful. RT DE is the German-language...

On 24 June 2026, the expert commission appointed by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend – BMBFSF) published its recommendations for action on the protection of children and young people in the digital world. Under the strapline "Strengthening development, taking responsibility", the 56 recommendations set out measures in various areas ranging from media literacy in schools to measures to be taken by platforms. With regard to the use of social media by children...

On 14 July 2026, the Commission for Licensing and Supervision (Kommission für Zulassung und Aufsicht – ZAK), the central body of the 14 German state media authorities, announced that, for the first time, German media law could apply to AI searches and AI chatbots. Its decisions regarding Google's AI Overviews and Perplexity's AI chatbot of the same name, which features an AI news page, indicate that the provisions of the Inter-State Media Treaty (Medienstaatsvertrag – MStV), including those safeguarding diversity, will be applied consistently...

In its recently published 2025 annual report on the protection of minors on the internet, jugendschutz.net highlighted current risks and the need for action, once again identifying sexualised violence and extremist hate content as key problems online. AI, including AI-powered chatbots also known as AI companions, played a central role in this context. For instance, minors could be exposed to inappropriate content, including sexualised material, both when interacting with chatbots and on AI-powered social media services such as Butterflies.AI, without any effective age verification...

In its judgement of 27 May 2026, the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia (Oberverwaltungsgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen – OVG NRW) (case no. 13 A 2858/24) ruled, with regard to the teleshopping channel QVC, that teleshopping channels are not entitled to preferential visibility through inclusion in the so-called "public value list" maintained by the state media authorities. Section 84 of the Interstate Media Treaty (Medienstaatsvertrag – MStV) obliges providers of smart TVs and other user interfaces to ensure that programmes that make a significant contribution...