On Tuesday evening, the French Parliament gave final approval to the bill banning access to social media sites for children under the age of 15, a measure that President Emmanuel Macron wants to implement as early as the start of the new school year in September, with the aim of protecting the health of minors.

The bill passed the Senate with 243 votes in favor and 2 against. It was subsequently approved by the National Assembly, the lower house, with 279 votes in favor and 81 against. Thus, France became the first EU country to adopt a law banning the use of social media by minors under the age of 15.

The French President himself championed this reform, pushing for its approval before the end of his term and the 2027 presidential election.

“All of us French citizens will have to verify our age for four months. If we are under 15 years of age, the account (on the platform) will be closed,” Minister of Digital Media Anne Le Enanf explained to reporters.

The law will take effect very soon: as of September 1 for new accounts. For existing accounts, the ban will take effect once the verification period expires, that is, on January 1, 2027.

Many lawmakers doubt that it is feasible to implement the ban so quickly, but the minister insisted that the measure will work.

The bill also stipulates that cell phones will be banned in high schools, as is already the case in elementary and middle schools. Each school’s internal regulations may provide for exceptions.

No penalties are provided for minors or their parents, but it is up to the platforms to verify users’ ages. In April, the European Commission presented a pan-European age verification application, and solutions have also been developed by the private sector.

Socialist lawmaker Artir Delaport, however, cited “vagueness in the age verification mechanisms” of a law that will be implemented “hastily” and said that his parliamentary group would likely appeal to the Constitutional Council.

La France Insoumise, for its part, criticized a law that “puts an end to anonymity on the Internet.”

An opinion issued by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) clearly sounded the alarm about the threat that social media poses to adolescents’ mental health, noted the bill’s sponsor, Laure Miller, of the presidential party Renaissance. She noted that certain exceptions to the ban are provided for, such as “online encyclopedias” and “educational digital works.”

Regarding YouTube and WhatsApp, which are widely used, Miller clarified that these platforms, too, must verify users’ ages—but only for the parts of their services that resemble social media sites (shared channels, comments, etc.). Simply watching videos or exchanging private messages will not be affected by the ban.

Source: KYPE