French Parliament greenlights social media ban for under-15s

Both houses of the French Parliament voted Tuesday to block social media access for children under 15, making France the first European country to enact a ban amid a broadening global crackdown.

The law will take effect on September 1, when users under 15 will no longer be able to create new social media accounts. Enforcement of the ban on existing accounts will begin in January 2027.

The legislation also outlaws the use of cell phones in high schools. The devices are already banned from elementary and middle schools.

Privacy advocates have decried the ban because all users will now be forced to verify their ages to access social media. 

Platforms are reportedly required to have their age verification methods approved by France’s privacy regulator.

The effort has long been a priority for President Emmanuel Macron, who celebrated Parliament’s vote on social media.

“I had committed to it, and now it’s been voted on: social media will be banned for those under 15 starting back-to-school,” Macron wrote on X. 

France’s ban follows those previously implemented in Australia, Turkey and Indonesia. 

Bans are not easy to enforce. Researchers in Australia, which launched its ban in December, are finding large percentages of teens remain on social media there.

European leaders, including in Greece and Spain, have pledged their own bans, but they have not yet taken effect. Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the U.K. government was pushing forward its own ban, but it is unclear how Starmer’s successor Andy Burnham will approach the issue.

The European Commission is seriously considering a bloc-wide ban for users under 13, with President Ursula von der Leyen saying on July 12 that there needs to be a set starting age for social media use because a “world where we continue to allow big tech unrestricted access to our children, will only consign another generation to more mental harm, addiction and misery."

Critics say it is important to regulate platforms, but cautioned against blanket bans.

“Efforts should be on forcing platforms to abandon their reckless pursuit of profit to the detriment of human rights,” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said in a statement.

Callamard urged governments to “first focus on banning the features that drive harm, including engagement-based algorithms that … can draw children into rabbit holes of depressive and suicidal content.”