France is on track to become the first European Union country to formally bar children from social media, after its parliament approved a sweeping new bill this week.
The legislation would prevent anyone under 15 from creating or holding a social media account, and it goes further than just platform access. It also bans mobile phone use in schools and introduces new restrictions on how social platforms can advertise to young users. Enforcement details, including what age-verification technology platforms will need to use, are expected to fall to ARCOM, France's digital communications regulator, once the Constitutional Council signs off on the bill.
President Emmanuel Macron has pushed hard for a fast timeline, calling on lawmakers to have the ban enforced by the start of the new school year in September. He has described the measure as a defining reform of his final term, framing it as a step toward protecting children from social media's documented health effects.
France would not be alone in moving this direction, but it would be the first in the EU to actually implement a ban rather than just study one. The UK has already partially restricted access through age-gating rules under its Online Safety Act, Denmark is exploring similar measures, and Australia became the first country globally to enact a youth social media ban back in 2024. Canadian regulators voted this June to pursue a comparable ban for those 16 and under.
That Australian precedent is worth watching closely. Independent studies have found that a meaningful share of Australian children kept using social media after the ban took effect, largely because platforms' age-verification systems proved easy to get around. If France's enforcement mechanism has similar gaps, the country could end up with a headline law that struggles in practice.