France becomes first European country to ban social media for children

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - PARIS — The French parliament on Tuesday approved legislation banning social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.

Australia made history late last year when it implemented the first ban on social media for under-16s. The British government announced similar restrictions last month, expected to come into effect next year. Spain, Greece and Denmark are also planning to impose minimum age limits for social media use.

French lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the bill, which was strongly backed by President Emmanuel Macron. He will now sign it into law.

“Social media will be banned for children under 15 starting this school year,” he posted on X after the vote as he thanked lawmakers for passing the bill.

“The brains of our children and our teenagers are not for sale,” he had said in a video message in January. “The emotions of our children and our teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated, neither by American platforms nor by Chinese algorithms.”

The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children's mental health.

While skeptics have questioned the law's viability, the government has insisted the online tools to put the age checks in place are effective and safe.

Both the French Senate and National Assembly adopted the ban on Tuesday, despite criticism from some on the left.

Once the ban is in place, social media platforms would need to use age-verification tools approved by the French privacy regulator, according to Reuters news agency.

But concerns have been raised over privacy, the efficacy of age-verification tools, the risks of young people bypassing them, and how quickly the ban has been designed and brought in, Agence France Presse reported.

French Digital Minister Anne Le Hénanff defended the speed of the law's implementation ahead of the vote "because age-verification tools already exist", the agency added.

Despite Australia banning under-16s from social media in December, it is widely acknowledged that many continue to use the platforms.

In March, Australia's eSafety Commission announced seven out of 10 children aged under 16 who had a social media account before the ban still had "some access".

Given this, Professor of Internet Studies at Western Australia's Curtin University Tama Leaver told the BBC the ban has "failed" in its technical aims.

But, he says, it has successfully shown a ban "can be done" though classifies it as "a bit of an experiment".

One lesson other countries can learn from its example is that "young people need to be part of this conversation" so that a ban is "done with them" and not "to them".

Leaver said France's ban may have a higher chance of succeeding because of the requirement for every person to verify their age but that this will also increase risks to privacy.

Additional risks of the ban include pushing young people into less-regulated online spaces, reducing their news consumption and their political empowerment, he added.

Legislation restricting young people's access to social media has been ramping up around Europe in the past few months.

In June, former British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced under-16s in the UK will be banned from social media from January 2027. An optional midnight curfew for UK teens aged 16 and 17 was also announced.

In May, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a "social media delay" for children in Europe and has said new legislation could be put forward in months.