The district office should apply to the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young Persons in the Media (BzKJ) to have the songs “WW3” and “Heil Hitler” by Ye (Kanye West) placed on its index. Together with my group colleague Johanna Martens, I initiated this proposal, and our Green group in Steglitz-Zehlendorf brought it before the district assembly, expecting it to win support across party lines. This isn’t about outrage for its own sake. It’s about a clear boundary: antisemitic statements and the glorification of National Socialist ideology have no place in freely accessible media. Pop culture shapes people, especially young people.

Both tracks obviously cross that line. Open Nazi references, unmistakable symbolism and even audio clips of Adolf Hitler cannot be met with silence. Censored or relabelled versions on streaming platforms change nothing. They disguise the content and, in certain scenes, even add to the appeal of the “forbidden”.

The parliamentary route is clear: the motion has passed the culture committee, the youth welfare committee will deal with it next, and then the district assembly will decide. If it is adopted, the district office will submit the indexing application to the BzKJ; alternatively, the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg will be informed and asked to review the case under youth media protection law. At the same time, the case reveals a gap in the rules: indexing draws a red line, but it does not automatically force international streaming services to block the content in Germany. As long as that is the case, too much depends on the goodwill of the providers. That is not enough to protect children and young people.

We introduced this motion because it is our job, and because drawing clear lines works. It shows young people that red lines apply and are enforced. At the same time, we need education: programmes that take pop culture and platform logic seriously and explain why antisemitism and every form of hate have no place. Against this background, cuts to antisemitism prevention projects, such as the Kreuzberg Initiative against Antisemitism, are completely unacceptable. The Berlin Senate, and the CDU in particular, need to finally back up their strong words against antisemitism with matching action in the budget.

The public response confirms how relevant this is. The topic was first picked up by rbb; many outlets followed, including Tagesspiegel, the taz and the Berliner Morgenpost, as well as the Berliner Zeitung. The debate makes clear that this is not a borough-level episode. It is about the gap between what our youth protection promises and the reality of a global platform economy. That is exactly where we come in: with a motion that takes the review to where it belongs, and with the demand to tighten the framework so that providers available in Germany reliably meet the standards that apply here.