By Louise Rasmussen
PARIS, Dec 31 (Reuters) – France plans to ban children under 15 from social media sites and ban cellphones in secondary schools from September 2026, local media reported on Wednesday, moves that highlight growing public concern about the impact of online harm on minors.
President Emmanuel Macron has often blamed social media for youth violence and has signaled that he wants France to follow Australia, whose first worldwide ban for under-16s on social media platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube came into effect in December.
His government will submit draft legislation to legal checks in early January, Le Monde and France Info reported.
Macron did not refer to the legislative push in a New Year’s address but promised to “protect our children and teenagers from social media and screens.”
Earlier, the Elysee and the prime minister’s office refused to comment on media reports.
Mobile phones have been banned in French primary and secondary schools since 2018 and the new changes reportedly extend that ban to secondary schools. Students between 11 and 15 years old attend secondary schools in the French education system.
France also passed a law in 2023 requiring social platforms to obtain parental consent for children under 15 to create accounts, although technical challenges have hampered its enforcement.
MACRON WANTS MORE ACTION AT EUROPEAN UNION LEVEL
Macron said in June that he would push for regulation at the European Union level to ban access to social media for all under-15s after a fatal stabbing at a school in eastern France shocked the nation.
The European Parliament in November urged the EU to set minimum ages for children to have access to social media to combat an increase in mental health problems among teenagers from excessive exposure, although it is member states that impose age limits.
Several other countries have also taken steps to regulate children’s access to social media.
Macron heads into the New Year with his domestic legacy in tatters after his gamble on parliamentary elections in 2024 led to a hung parliament, triggering France’s worst political crisis in decades that has seen a succession of weak governments.
However, further reducing minors’ access to social media could be popular, according to opinion polls. A Harris Interactive Poll in 2024 showed that 73% of those questioned support a ban on access to social media for under 15s.
(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)