France eyeing to ban social media for children under 15

France plans to ban children under 15 from social media sites and to prohibit mobile phones in high schools from September 2026. The move will underscore rising public angst over the impact of online harms on minors. President Emmanuel Macron has often pointed to social media as one of the factors to blame for violence among young people and has signaled that he wants France to follow Australia, whose world-first ban for under-16s on social media platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube came into force in December.

In a world first, Australia has implemented a social media ban on children under 16.

 "Many studies and reports now confirm the various risks caused by excessive use of digital screens by adolescents," the French draft says. “Children with unfettered online access were exposed to "inappropriate content" and could suffer from cyber-harassment or experience changes to their sleep patterns, the government said.

The draft law has two articles. One would make illegal "the provision by an online platform of an online social media service to a minor under 15." The second calls for a ban of mobile phone use in secondary schools.

Macron has said that the digital protection of minors is a priority for his government, but enforcement and compliance with international law have been issues. A ban on mobile phone use in preschools and middle schools came into force in 2018, but is rarely enforced.