France set to ban social media access for under-15s

French lawmakers agreed on a bill prohibiting children under 15 years of age from accessing social media platforms following a joint parliamentary reconciliation committee decision on July 20, 2026. The legislation, supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, aims to take effect before the beginning of the school year in early September and extends existing bans on mobile phone usage within high schools.

Reuters reported that lawmakers modified the draft text to align with the European Union Digital Services Act. Under the agreed legislative framework, French authorities will establish the national age threshold, while European officials oversee platform compliance and age-verification mechanisms. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently expressed support for limiting children's social media access across the 27-country bloc.

The reconciled text is scheduled for discussion in the Lower House and later in the Senate. Following parliamentary approval, the Information Technology minister will compile an official list of social networks banned for children and teenagers younger than 15 years old. Under the new requirements, social media platforms must implement age-verification systems officially approved by the French privacy regulator.

With this legislation, France follows Australia, which enacted a worldwide first ban for under-16s on platforms including Meta Platforms' Facebook, Snap's Snapchat, ByteDance's TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube in December. President Macron has actively sought broader international support for youth social media restrictions across the European Union and other partner nations.