France plans to ban the use of social media for those under 15, starting from the new school year, which starts on September 1, Agence France-Presse reports, citing a bill that parliament will begin discussing in early 2026.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to ban access to social media for children and adolescents under 15-16 years of age until the end of his term in 2027.
„The parliamentary debate on the bill is scheduled for early 2026. The bill, consisting of two articles, aims to ban „the provision of social media services to minors under 15 from online platforms“, as of September 1, 2026“, the publication states.
The first article of the bill assigns the National Authority for the Regulation of Audiovisual and Digital Communications (Arcom) to enforce the ban. The second article will deal with the extension of the ban on the use of mobile phones in schools.
In April, French MP and former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal proposed banning access to social media for children under 15 and limiting access at night for older teenagers as part of “radical measures“ to combat internet addiction. Internet platforms should also be made "less attractive", for example by switching the interface to black and white after 30 minutes of use, the MP believes.
On December 10, the Australian government banned the use of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch by persons under the age of 16. Social media owners who do not remove the accounts of children and teenagers face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (approximately 33 million USD).
Recently, more and more countries have tried to limit the influence of social media on the younger generation. In October, Agence France-Presse, citing Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, reported that the country's authorities planned to ban children under the age of 15 from using social media. Bloomberg previously reported that France, Spain and Greece are planning to introduce mandatory age restrictions for social media users. Indonesia's Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies and Turkey's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure have also spoken about the possibility of introducing age restrictions for social media users.