Industry Odisha Bureau, Jul 23: France has reportedly become the first nation under the European Union (EU) to implement a law imposing ban on the use of social media by its children under 15 years of age.
Thus, the French children under 15 year of age will now be prohibited from accessing popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok.
Notably, “Australia has reportedly been the first ever country in the world to ban social media accounts for users under 16 year of age in 2024. The country has also reportedly warned the social media platforms that would be liable to penalties of up to A$50 million for failing to prevent underage users from creating accounts.”
As per international media reports, “The French Senate first passed the new law on July 21, while the country’s National Assembly accorded it seal of approval by 279 votes in favour and 81 votes cast against the new law.”
Citing reason behind such a move by the France lawmakers, international media stated that, “It had been a grave concern owing to social media’s bad impact on the French childen’s mental health conditions since the country’s health watchdog has discovered that around 90 per cent of the French children aged between 12 and 17 years use smartphones daily to access the internet, while more than half spend between two and five hours a day on their devices.”
International media citing the French health watchdog’s findings stated that, “Excessive social media use by the children of 12-17 age group resulted in greater exposure to harmful contents, materials related to self-harm, suicide, drug use, and above all, lower self-esteem.”
International media citing the provisions of the new French law stated that, “French children under 15 will now be unable to create new social media accounts from September this year (2026), while the full ban on existing accounts will come into effect from January next year (2027).”
International media citing the provisions of the new French law highlighted that, “The new French law will , however, not apply to online encyclopaedias, educational directories, and scientific directories.”
