Nilani Möhrle Become Chairwoman of the Review Board of BzKJ

Nilani Möhrle, Head of the department responsible for the review board, is taking over as chair of the review board at the board for media harmful to minors at the Federal Centre for Child Protection (BzKJ) with immediate effect. The review board decides which media are to be included in the list of media harmful to minors, known as the Index.

In fact, the situation was more complex, as there were different areas involved. In any case, indexing meant that a game could not be sold openly to children and young people, but a complete ban, even for adults, was rare and usually associated with the depiction of Nazi symbols.

In recent years, the index has become less important for the gaming industry anyway. Many decisions made in the 1990s have since been revised at the request of the respective publishers, and the indexing of numerous classics such as Doom has been lifted. Other reasons why games rarely end up before the board today are that it is only responsible for offline media and that once a USK rating has been granted for a data carrier, indexing is impossible.

Nevertheless, there are still isolated cases where games are subject to the board's review process alongside films and audio CDs. Nilani Möhrle, who has been working as a lawyer for the review board since 2016 and has chaired the committee's meetings as deputy chair since 2022, has now taken over as chair of the board. "By taking over as chair of the review board, I want to do my part to ensure that the values of the Basic Law, in particular respect for human dignity and the equality of all people, are recognisable as visible pillars for children and young people. The review body's constitutional procedures, which deal with the difficult line between protecting young people and legally enshrined fundamental rights, such as freedom of art and expression, are intended to provide guidance in this regard," says Möhrle.

She succeeds Thomas Salzmann, who, in addition to his position as chairman of the review board, is also deputy director of the BzKJ. He will continue to perform this role. At the review board, however, he will act as Möhrle's deputy in future.

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