France Bans Social Media for Children Under 15

France has become the first country in the European Union to ban social media use for children under the age of 15 after lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a landmark bill on Tuesday.

The legislation, strongly backed by President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to take effect from the start of the new school year in September and will apply to major social media platforms.

The move follows a growing international push to restrict children’s access to social media. Australia introduced a ban for under-16s last year, while the United Kingdom has announced similar restrictions expected to come into force next year. Spain, Greece and Denmark are also considering minimum age limits.

After the vote, Macron said social media would be banned for children under 15 from the upcoming school year and argued that children’s emotions should not be manipulated by digital platforms and recommendation algorithms.

The law will be enforced by Arcom, France’s audiovisual and digital communications regulator. The government says platforms will be required to implement age-control measures, although officials have acknowledged that verifying users’ ages remains a major challenge.

Credit: By Berke Citak on Unsplash

According to Arcom, French teenagers aged 12 to 17 spend an average of 1 hour and 21 minutes per day on TikTok, and the regulator has warned that recommendation algorithms can expose young users to increasingly extreme, anxiety-inducing or harmful content.

The proposal has received support from many French parents and health professionals. Some parents say existing parental controls are often easy for children to bypass, while paediatricians report growing concern about excessive smartphone use and social media addiction among teenagers.

However, critics argue that a ban alone will not solve the problem. Amnesty International France said the debate is legitimate but insisted that meaningful protection would require changes to the business models of social media companies and restrictions on addictive platform features.

The law has reignited a wider global debate about children’s online safety, digital addiction and the responsibility of technology companies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently described social media as “not a toy” and called for age-appropriate restrictions across Europe.

The French decision is now being closely watched by governments around the world as they consider how far states should go in limiting minors’ access to social media platforms.