Parliament backs ban on social networks for under-15s

Paris – 21.07.2026: The French parliament is facing the final approval of a law intended to ban minors under the age of 15 from accessing social networks. The National Assembly and the Senate will consider the compromise reached by their joint conciliation committee on Tuesday. If both chambers agree, France could become the first European country to establish a general statutory minimum age of 15 for these services.

The conciliation committee reached agreement on 20 July on a version closely aligned with the more far-reaching approach of the National Assembly. In principle, the ban is intended to cover all social networks, rather than only a government-defined group of particularly high-risk platforms. A role initially envisaged by the Senate for the media and digital regulator Arcom in drawing up such lists has been removed from the compromise.

The proposal comes from MP Laure Miller and was adopted by the National Assembly at first reading in January 2026, and by the Senate in amended form at the end of March. It links the age limit to further measures to protect minors. These include a ban on mobile phones in secondary schools, after similar rules already apply to primary and middle schools. The political rationale refers primarily to sleep disorders, attention problems, cyberbullying and the spread of inappropriate content.

President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for practical implementation from the start of the school year in September 2026. In a statement on 15 June, he initially proposed denying new accounts for young people under 15 access; existing accounts would have to be closed later. However, the parliamentary text now before lawmakers formulates a broader access ban. Considerable technical work therefore remains between the legal ambition and nationwide enforcement.

Reliable age verification will be crucial, without platforms collecting disproportionate amounts of personal data. France has already had rules on digital adulthood since 2023, but their practical effectiveness has remained limited. The major platforms, mostly based outside France, would need to adapt their registration and verification procedures. The question of how to prevent circumvention through false age declarations or foreign services has also not yet been definitively answered.

There is also the European legal framework. On 7 July, the European Commission objected to parts of the originally notified French version because it defined Arcom’s powers regarding platforms too broadly and could affect the uniform internal market. The parliamentary conciliation agreement removes precisely these controversial supervisory elements. Nevertheless, the European Digital Services Act remains decisive for the obligations of major platforms and cooperation between national authorities.

The votes on 21 July will therefore first decide the political principle, not the immediate technical reality. Even if final approval is granted, promulgation, specific requirements for providers and a legally robust design for age verification will still follow. The government may seek implementation in September; whether the ban will then already be genuinely and uniformly enforceable depends on these outstanding steps.