France’s parliament has approved a law banning under-15s from social media, making it the first European country to adopt such a restriction, according to BBC News.
The measure will require people in France to verify their age in order to use social media platforms. From September, under-15s will be prevented from opening accounts, while from January 2027 the requirement will extend to existing accounts, meaning users will have to prove they are over 15.
Both the Senate and National Assembly passed the legislation on Tuesday, despite criticism from some on the left. President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the measure, which he had pledged to introduce before the end of his decade in office.
Reuters reported that platforms will have to use age-checking tools approved by France’s privacy regulator once the ban is in force. Agence France Presse said concerns have been raised about privacy, whether verification systems will work, the possibility of young people bypassing them, and the pace at which the law has been developed.
French Digital Minister Anne Le Hénanff defended the timetable before the vote, saying age-verification tools already exist, AFP reported.
France follows Australia, which introduced a ban on under-16s using social media in December. Australia’s eSafety Commission said in March that seven in 10 children under 16 who had a social media account before the ban still retained “some access”.
Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University in Western Australia, told the BBC that Australia’s ban had “failed” in its technical aims, although it had shown that such a measure “can be done”. He said young people should be involved in shaping restrictions, and warned that France’s universal age-verification requirement could improve enforcement while increasing privacy risks.
Similar proposals are being considered elsewhere. The BBC reported that former British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in June that under-16s in the UK would be banned from social media from January 2027, alongside an optional midnight curfew for UK teenagers aged 16 and 17. In May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a “social media delay” for children in Europe.
