SWIPE RIGHTS Round Table
Working together to strengthen young people’s digital autonomy!
Adults—at home, at school, and in politics—usually decide who has access to the digital world and what rules apply there. At the same time, more and more places where young people can meet without pressure to consume are disappearing. This makes digital spaces all the more important for friendships, interaction, and a sense of belonging.
But even there, things are getting more difficult for all of us: advertising, manipulative tactics, and the battle for attention shape our everyday lives. Even we adults sometimes feel overwhelmed by this. We believe that simply excluding young people across the board does not solve these problems. We must work together to make digital spaces safer, fairer, and more self-determined—while taking young people’s perspectives seriously.
–> –> What can we do together in Frankfurt to strengthen young people’s digital self-determination? To this end, NODE and the Smart City Office of the City of Frankfurt am Main invite you to a SWIPE RIGHTS Round Table.
October 29, 2026, 3:00–5:00 p.m., closing event
display – Space for Digital Practice, Berliner Straße 60, Frankfurt am Main
The starting point is the artistic work and the manifesto that the young people developed during this year’s Digitale Welten Festival in a three-day hackathon under the title “SWIPE RIGHTS – Adults have ruined the internet. Now they want to ban it. Join in and shape the internet of tomorrow!” Together, we’ll view the exhibition and use their demands as a starting point for discussion. –> –>
To start, we’ll provide a brief overview of the current debates, political decisions, and proposed legislation regarding social media access restrictions for young people. We’ll also take a look at models that have already been implemented and the experiences with them so far.
We’d like to bring together young people, individuals from the fields of politics, education, youth work, and digital civil society to discuss the following over a drink:
- Which ideas from young people can we incorporate into our areas of work? Where can we foster participation and transparency? Where do we encounter political obstacles?
- Which projects by and for young people deserve more attention, and which alliances can we strengthen?
- How can we protect young people from digital risks while simultaneously strengthening their freedom, privacy, and right to participate?
- And how can we steer the debate back toward demanding that technology companies be held accountable for the problematic design of digital platforms, rather than prohibiting young people from participating in the digital world?
- What concrete steps can we take together? And how will young people have a say in this process?