French President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans to fast-track legislation that would ban children under the age of 15 from using social media, with the government aiming to enforce the law before the next school year begins in September.
In a video released late Saturday, Macron said the move is necessary to protect young people from digital manipulation and psychological harm.
“The brains of our children and adolescents are not for sale,” Macron said. “Their emotions are not for sale or to be manipulated, whether by American platforms or Chinese algorithms.”
According to the French leader, the proposed law will not only restrict social media access for under-15s but will also prohibit mobile phone use in high schools. He described the policy as a clear and necessary rule for teenagers, parents and educators.
France’s decision comes amid a broader push across Western countries to strengthen online safety laws for minors. In December, Australia passed landmark legislation banning children under 16 from holding accounts on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. The United Kingdom has also indicated it is considering similar measures.
French lawmakers backing the proposal argue that current safeguards are ineffective due to weak age-verification systems. One lawmaker involved in the process explained that users can easily bypass restrictions by entering false dates of birth.
“What we want to impose on platforms, by strictly enforcing the European Digital Services Act, is real age verification when you access a social network,” she said. “That changes everything.”
While acknowledging that some users may still find ways around the restrictions, she stressed that the priority is taking decisive steps to protect minors online.
Australia’s experience has strengthened the case for such laws. Authorities there revealed that more than 4.7 million social media accounts believed to belong to under-16s were deactivated or removed following the ban. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the decision was driven by growing evidence of social harm.
“We know that social harm is being caused, and therefore we have a responsibility as a government to respond,” Albanese said, adding that teenagers should be encouraged to engage more in offline activities such as sports, music and reading.
However, the move has not been without criticism. Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter), previously described Australia’s ban as a “backdoor war to control access to the Internet,” though the platform has complied with the law.
One of the key influences behind Australia’s decision was a 2024 book by American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, which argues that social media has significantly damaged children’s mental health.
“The basic argument is that we’ve overprotected our children in the real world and under-protected them online,” Haidt said. “We were wrong on both points.”
With France now moving in the same direction, the global debate over children, technology and online safety appears far from over.
