France Bans Social Media for Children Under 15
French regulators have passed a bill banning social media for children under 15 and prohibiting mobile phone use in schools, pending approval from the Constitutional Council.
French regulators have approved a bill that bans social media for children under the age of 15. The new legislation, which still requires approval from France's Constitutional Council, could make the country the first European Union member to implement such a ban, following similar regulation passed in Australia in 2024. The law aims to counteract the negative health effects associated with children's social media use, while also banning mobile phones in schools and introducing new rules on how social platforms are advertised.
Regulators have suggested using age verification tools to determine if users are old enough to create an account, though the specific system that social media platforms must implement remains unclear. That decision may ultimately rest with ARCOM, France's digital communications regulator, which will enforce the ban once it is in place. President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X thanking Parliament for approving the ban, called for the law to be enforced by the start of the school year in September. Macron had previously requested that the vote on the ban be expedited.
France is not the only country in Europe considering a social media ban, but it is poised to be the first to implement one. The United Kingdom has explored the possibility of a ban and is already partially enforcing one through age-gating requirements in the Online Safety Act. Denmark is close to introducing its own ban. Across the Atlantic, Canadian regulators introduced a bill in June to ban social media for children 16 and younger.
While lawmakers globally are drawn to bans, potential shortcomings are worth noting. At least two studies published in April and June found that a significant number of Australian children continued using social media after the ban took effect, possibly due to platforms' lax approach to age verification. As issues with Roblox's age verification system have shown, implementing these systems is difficult. The fallout from France's ban may well be similar.
