French lawmakers approve bill banning social media for children under 15, with phones barred in high schools

PARIS — French lawmakers have approved a bill that would ban social media use for children under 15, a sweeping move driven by rising concern about cyberbullying, harmful content, and the mental health effects of heavy screen time. The proposal also bans mobile phones in high schools, extending rules that already constrain phone use in younger grades.

The bill passed the National Assembly by a 130–21 vote late Monday and now heads to the Senate. President Emmanuel Macron has asked lawmakers to fast-track the measure, and supporters say they want it ready for the next school year in September 2026, alongside stronger enforcement expectations for platforms operating in France.

Lawmakers backing the bill argue that adolescents’ online environments have changed faster than public protections and that social networks have become a source of harassment, risky behavior content, and persistent comparison pressures that can damage self-esteem. The measure is designed to draw a bright legal line: social media is not treated as neutral infrastructure for young teens, but as a regulated space with age limits.

The proposal carves out exceptions for services that are not primarily social networking platforms, such as online encyclopedias and certain educational or scientific directories. That distinction reflects an attempt to avoid blocking broadly useful internet tools while targeting apps whose core features are feeds, follower graphs, virality mechanics, and algorithmic recommendation systems.

A major practical hurdle is enforcement. Any effective ban requires credible age verification that satisfies privacy and EU legal standards — a difficult balance because governments want certainty about age while citizens and rights groups worry about expanded identity checks and data collection. France’s debate mirrors similar dilemmas in other countries trying to reconcile child safety, privacy, and platform accountability.

The French vote also lands in a broader European policy moment. Across the region, officials are weighing minimum-age rules and constraints on youth exposure to harmful online practices, as parents, educators, and health authorities press governments to intervene more directly. The Senate’s handling of the bill will determine whether France’s approach becomes a model others adopt — or a test case for how hard it is to enforce age limits at scale.