The French National Assembly has voted in favor of a bill that bans access to social media for children under 15 and tightens restrictions on the use of smartphones in high schools.
The French National Assembly has voted in favor of a bill that bans access to social media for children under 15 and tightens restrictions on the use of smartphones in high schools.
According to RFI, the initiative was actively supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the vote «an important step to protect children and adolescents.» After its adoption in the lower house of parliament, he publicly stated that the state does not want a «disquieting generation,» but seeks to protect young people from manipulation by digital platforms and algorithms. The bill was adopted after an all-night session by a majority vote — 130 deputies supported the document, 21 opposed.
The document provides for a direct ban on access to social networks for children under 15 years of age. At the same time, educational services, online encyclopedias and educational platforms are excluded from the restrictions so as not to block access to educational content. Separately, the bill expands the current rules regarding smartphones in schools: if since 2018 phones have been banned in colleges, now this principle is planned to be extended to lyceums. The authors of the initiative indicate that the constant presence of social networks and content feeds increases anxiety, contributes to cyberbullying and children’s contact with violent or harmful content.
A key condition for implementing the ban remains age verification. The French authorities acknowledge that without an effective verification system, the requirement may remain declarative, so work on such technologies is underway at the European Union level. According to the plan, if the law is finally approved by the Senate, the new rules could come into effect from the beginning of the 2026 school year, and platforms will be given a transition period to disable accounts that do not meet the age requirements.
The initiative has already drawn criticism from some politicians and public organizations, who consider the ban to be an overly simplistic response to a complex problem and call for an emphasis on the responsibility of the platforms themselves, rather than on restrictions for children.
France could become the second country in the world, after Australia, to introduce such a strict age limit for social media. For Macron, the bill is part of a broader strategy of state control over the digital environment and an attempt to shape a European approach to protecting minors online.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how the American platform Reddit appealed to the High Court of Australia to overturn a national ban on children’s access to social networks, stating that it threatens freedom of political expression.
