Parliament is preparing to ban social media for children under 15

Paris – 21 July 2026: The French Parliament is set to definitively approve a law intended to prohibit children under the age of 15 from accessing social media. The National Assembly and the Senate will examine the compromise reached by their joint committee on Tuesday. If both chambers approve it, France could become the first European country to establish by law a general minimum age of 15 for these services.

On 20 July, the joint committee agreed on a version close to the broader approach of the National Assembly. In principle, the ban is to cover all social networks, rather than only a group of particularly risky platforms determined by the authorities. The agreement removed the role initially envisaged for Arcom, the media and digital regulatory authority, in drawing up such lists.

The initiative comes from MP Laure Miller and was approved at first reading by the National Assembly in January 2026 and, with amendments, by the Senate at the end of March. It links the age limit to other child protection measures. These include a ban on mobile phones in secondary schools, after similar rules had already been introduced in primary and middle schools. The political rationale refers in particular to sleep disorders, attention problems, cyberbullying and the spread of inappropriate content.

President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for the measure to be implemented in practice from the start of the school year in September 2026. In a statement on 15 June, he initially proposed preventing new accounts for children under 15; existing accounts would be closed later. However, the parliamentary text now presented formulates a broader access ban. Considerable technical work therefore remains between the legal ambition and widespread implementation.

Reliable age verification will be crucial, without platforms collecting a disproportionate amount of personal data. France has had rules on the digital age of majority since 2023, whose practical effectiveness has been limited. Major platforms, most of which are established outside France, would have to adapt their registration and control procedures. The question of how to prevent circumvention through false age declarations or foreign services has also not been definitively answered.

There is also the framework of European law. On 7 July, the European Commission challenged parts of the originally notified French version because it granted excessively broad powers to Arcom over platforms and could affect the single internal market. The parliamentary mediation agreement removes precisely those controversial supervisory elements. Nevertheless, the European Digital Services Act remains decisive for the obligations of major platforms and cooperation among national authorities.

The votes of 21 July will therefore first decide the political principle, not the immediate technical reality. Even in the event of final approval, promulgation, specific requirements for providers and a legally secure design of age control will still have to follow. The Government can aim for a September launch; whether the ban can then already be enforced effectively and uniformly will depend on these remaining steps.