France Bars Under-15s From Social Media, a First in Europe
On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, France's parliament adopted a bill barring children under 15 from social media, making it the first country in the European Union to impose a blanket age limit on the platforms. Lawmakers cast the measure as a shield against the cyberbullying, harassment and content promoting self-harm that reach children through engagement-driven feeds.
France on Tuesday became the first country in the European Union to bar children under 15 from social media, after both chambers of its parliament adopted a bill that supporters cast as a response to mounting concern over the harm the platforms do to young users, CNN reported. The measure, a flagship initiative of President Emmanuel Macron's government, also bans mobile phones in secondary schools, according to ABC News.
The vote makes France the first EU member state to approve an outright ban, rather than the parental-consent or age-verification requirements adopted elsewhere, and it sets up a confrontation with the platforms, and potentially the courts, over how such a rule can be enforced, The Washington Post reported.
A ban in two stages, aimed at September
Macron has pushed for the law to take effect at the start of the new school year, and the government has outlined a rollout in two stages, CNN reported. Under-15s would be blocked from opening new accounts from Sept. 1, with the restriction extended to existing accounts from January 2027. France's digital minister, Anne Le Henanff, has said the timetable is realistic because age-verification tools already exist and that the burden of enforcing the limit falls on the platforms rather than on families, according to CNN.
A constitutional review could still delay the law. France's Constitutional Council is expected to examine whether the measure complies with the constitution before it enters force, ABC News reported. The final text was the product of a last-minute compromise between the National Assembly and the Senate, reached after the European Commission found that an earlier version was not fully compatible with EU law, according to The Washington Post.
What the law is meant to stop
Supporters framed the ban as a barrier against the online harms that reach children through social feeds — among them cyberbullying, harassment and exposure to content promoting self-harm, eating disorders and suicide, CNN reported. Lawmakers and children's advocates have argued that voluntary parental controls and platform promises have failed to keep pace with the scale of those harms.
The debate has unfolded against a backdrop of litigation. Several French families have sued TikTok, alleging that its recommendation algorithm pushed their teenage children toward self-harm and suicide, and French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the risks the platform's algorithms may pose to young users, according to ABC News. The premise of the ban is that the design of the platforms, not only individual users, exposes children to that material.
The enforcement fight
Opponents warned that the ban may prove difficult to enforce and could carry costs of its own. Lawmakers from the left-wing La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, opposed the measure, arguing that its constitutionality is unclear, that verifying every user's age would effectively end online anonymity, and that the rule would be impossible to police, ABC News reported.
The law exempts online encyclopedias and educational or scientific directories, according to ABC News. How the platforms will confirm users' ages without collecting sensitive identity data from adults as well as children remains among the most contested questions in the debate, The Washington Post reported.
A test other governments are watching
France is not the first country to try to wall children off from social media — Australia last year became the first to bar under-16s from holding accounts, a restriction that took effect in December 2025 — but it is the first in the European Union to do so, CNN reported. Other governments weighing similar limits are watching how France enforces its rule, PBS NewsHour reported.
For the platforms, the French law converts a long-running argument about online safety into a national legal obligation over who belongs on the feed and how that is verified. Whether it survives constitutional and EU scrutiny, and whether age checks can be made to work, will shape how far other European governments are prepared to follow, according to The Washington Post.