France passes law banning under-15s from social media
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France has enacted a law banning social media access for anyone under 15, becoming the latest in a growing list of countries moving to restrict young people's use of such platforms. The law, passed on 21 July 2026, could take effect as soon as 1 September and also extends France's existing school mobile phone ban to secondary schools, building on rules already covering primary and middle schools. It follows Australia, which became the first country to enforce a comparable under-16 ban in December 2025, and reflects a wider international push to address cyberbullying, addiction, mental health harms and exposure to predators among children online, despite criticism from groups such as Amnesty Tech over invasive age verification and government overreach.
Several other nations are at varying stages of similar action: Austria is finalising legislation banning social media for under-14s, Canada has introduced a bill covering under-16s (with a possible one-year passage timeline and an opt-out for platforms with adequate safeguards), and Denmark aims to bring in an under-15 ban by mid-2026 alongside a new "digital evidence" age-verification app. Germany has discussed but not agreed an under-16 ban amid coalition disagreement, Greece plans an under-15 ban from January 2027 to tackle anxiety and sleep problems, and Indonesia has said it will restrict under-16s from social media. Australia's ban, the first to take effect, covers platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch and Kick, excludes WhatsApp and YouTube Kids, and carries fines of up to A$49.5 million for non-compliant companies.
- France bans social media for under-15s, effective as soon as 1 September 2026
- Joins Australia, which enforced an under-16 ban in December 2025
- Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Indonesia are pursuing similar bans
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France's new law bars anyone under 15 from using social media, and lawmakers passed it on 21 July 2026, with the rules potentially starting as early as 1 September. It also widens an existing ban on mobile phones in French primary and middle schools so that it now covers secondary schools too, part of a broader effort to limit children's screen time both in and out of the classroom.
The move follows growing international concern about how social media affects children, including worries about bullying, addiction, poor mental health and contact with predators online. Australia was the first country to bring in a similar under-16 ban, which took effect in December 2025, and several other countries, including Austria, Canada, Denmark and Greece, are working on their own versions with varying age limits and timelines.
Not everyone agrees on how to tackle these concerns, however. Groups such as Amnesty Tech have raised objections to measures like these, questioning the age-verification checks needed to enforce them and warning about the extent of government involvement in young people's online lives.
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The case for
Advocates of the ban argue that childhood mental health, sleep and attention have measurably suffered under algorithm-driven platforms designed to maximise engagement in minds not yet equipped to resist them, and that cyberbullying and exposure to predators or harmful content pose risks serious enough to justify state intervention. They see this as consistent with existing age limits on alcohol, tobacco and driving, arguing that waiting for industry self-regulation has failed and that parents alone cannot counter platforms with vast behavioural-design resources. For them, a clear legal age floor removes peer pressure from individual families and sends a firm signal that children's wellbeing outweighs platforms' commercial interests.
The case against
Critics, including civil liberties groups such as Amnesty Tech, contend that blanket bans risk overreach, arguing that mandatory age verification requires invasive data collection or identity checks that threaten privacy and could be repurposed for broader surveillance. They warn such laws are easily circumvented by tech-savvy teenagers, potentially pushing them towards less regulated or more harmful corners of the internet while doing little to address the underlying platform design issues. They further argue this approach removes decision-making from parents and older teenagers who may benefit from social connection, activism and educational content online, favouring more targeted measures such as improved content moderation, algorithmic transparency or digital literacy education over outright prohibition.
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Originally published by TechCrunch as “These are the countries moving to ban social media for children”.