The French Parliament has finally passed a law that will prevent users under the age of 15 from creating social media accounts. The new rules are due to come into force on 1 September 2026, but the bill must first be reviewed by the Constitutional Council, reports Reuters.
The bill was backed by both houses of parliament: the Senate voted 243 to two in favour, whilst the National Assembly voted 279 to 81 in favour. A transition period has been provided for existing children’s profiles – platforms must close them by 1 January 2027.
Social media platforms will have to verify users’ ages, although the specific mechanism has not yet been determined. This remains the main problem with the law: to identify children’s accounts, platforms will effectively have to check all users. Exceptions are provided for online encyclopaedias, educational and scientific resources.
The law also extends the existing ban on mobile phones in primary and secondary schools to French lycées, which cater for upper secondary pupils. Schools’ internal rules may permit the use of phones in specific cases, particularly for educational purposes.
The Socialists plan to refer the matter to the Constitutional Council, which will have up to a month to review the legislation. The European Commission is also assessing whether the French law complies with EU rules on digital platforms.
It is worth recalling that Australia’s experience has highlighted the complexity of such restrictions: following the introduction of a ban on social media for children under 16, 85 per cent of teenagers continued to circumvent age verification.
Read also: “Social media is the new tobacco”: British doctors equate TikTok and Instagram with smoking
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