France has officially passed legislation to prohibit children under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, marking the first such move by a European Union member state. The law, which received broad parliamentary support, aims to address growing concerns regarding youth mental health, cyberbullying, and screen addiction. By establishing this digital age threshold, the French government seeks to curb the influence of algorithms on younger users and protect them from potentially harmful online environments.
The implementation of the ban will occur in two distinct phases. Starting September 1, 2026, platforms will be required to prevent minors under 15 from creating new accounts. By January 1, 2027, the law mandates that existing accounts held by users under this age must be blocked. The legislation places the responsibility for age verification on the platforms themselves, which must provide at least two reliable methods to confirm a user's age. Educational platforms, online encyclopedias, and open-source software are explicitly exempted from these restrictions.
To ensure compliance with the European Union's Digital Services Act, French lawmakers carefully crafted the bill to avoid creating conflicts with broader bloc-wide regulations. The government has promoted a "double anonymity" verification model, where a trusted third party confirms a user's age via ID or bank card without revealing their identity to the platform. This approach is intended to balance child safety with data privacy, though the technical execution remains a significant logistical challenge for tech companies operating in the country.
Beyond the social media restrictions, the new law also reinforces France's existing policies on mobile phone use in schools. Students will be prohibited from possessing cell phones in high schools beginning this coming school year, extending a policy already in place for primary and middle schools. As the law moves toward final enactment, it serves as a test case for other European nations considering similar measures to regulate digital spaces for minors.