France moves toward under-15 social media ban
French lawmakers approved a ban on social media accounts for children under 15, putting France ahead of other EU states if the measure clears constitutional review.
By Colin Brandt · Enterprise Reporter
· 3 min read
France’s National Assembly voted 279 to 81 to bar children under 15 from using social media, a policy that would make France the first European Union member state to set that kind of age cutoff. The measure still needs review by the Constitutional Council, but President Emmanuel Macron has pushed to have the law in place before the school year starts in September.
The vote follows approval in the Senate and gives the lower house’s broader version of the measure priority. French senators had backed a narrower structure that would have treated platforms differently and allowed some access with parental consent. The version now heading toward implementation is a blanket prohibition for under-15 users.
Macron welcomed the vote, describing it as a major step for child protection online. He said the Constitutional Council must now decide on the measure before the government turns to implementation. Digital Minister Anne Le Henanff told reporters enforcement should be possible because age-verification tools already exist. She said accounts belonging to users under 15 would be closed.
The government has not disclosed in the reported remarks how platforms will be required to verify age, what data they may collect to do it, how appeals would work, or what penalties companies would face for noncompliance. Those details will matter for Meta, TikTok owner ByteDance, Snap and other consumer platforms, which have spent years trying to limit regulatory exposure while preserving growth among younger users.
The policy is part of a wider shift away from voluntary child-safety controls and toward statutory age gates. Australia passed legislation in 2024 and became the first country to remove under-16 users from social media in 2025. The United Kingdom has announced a ban that is due to take effect next year. Denmark, Greece and Spain are expected to pursue similar measures, and the EU is considering a broader approach across its 27 member states.
France’s public health watchdog has criticized services including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, saying last year that the apps had been shown to be harmful and addictive for children. The agency linked them to worsening youth mental health, which has been described in France as a pandemic.
Macron has also framed the issue as a fight with large technology companies, saying earlier this year that children’s brains and emotions should not be sold or manipulated by American platforms or Chinese algorithms.
The push has drawn opposition from speech advocates, who argue that blanket bans are a crude fix and that some online services can help children. That criticism did not stop the National Assembly from choosing the more restrictive route, which now puts the burden on platforms and regulators to turn a political mandate into an enforceable system.
This story draws on original reporting from SiliconANGLE.
