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Shkruar nga PamfletiAccording to French public health authorities, platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are linked to harmful effects on adolescents, including cyberbullying and exposure to violence, which strengthens the argument for state intervention in their use by minors.
French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that France is moving towards banning social media for children under the age of 15, considering this measure necessary to protect public health and the safety of minors.
Macron stressed that the use of social media by children and adolescents has reached worrying levels. According to him, the average time a teenager spends in front of a screen is over four hours a day, often without any parental control or supervision. He warned that early exposure to digital platforms increases the risk of violent content and harmful material.
The French president stressed that responsibility for this issue cannot be left to parents alone, arguing that the impact of algorithms and platforms is much greater than the real possibility of family control. According to him, limiting access before the age of 15 is directly related to protecting the mental and emotional development of children.
"The brains of our children and teenagers are not for sale. Their emotions are not for sale or to be manipulated by either American platforms or Chinese algorithms," he said.
In this context, Macron announced that he had asked the government to use an accelerated legal procedure, with the aim of having the bill approved by Parliament and the Senate before the start of the next school year, in September. He stressed that children's data, emotions and attention should not be treated as a market commodity or as an object of manipulation by digital platforms.
The initiative also builds on recent legal developments in France. At the end of January, the National Assembly approved a bill that would ban social media for children under 15, with the exception of educational platforms and online encyclopedias. The law requires platforms to implement mandatory age verification mechanisms and extends the ban on smartphone use to secondary schools.
Authorities intend for the measures to apply initially to new accounts, starting from the 2026 school year. France would thus become one of the first countries to impose such restrictions, after Australia, which has taken a similar step for minors under 16.
According to French public health authorities, platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are linked to harmful effects on adolescents, including cyberbullying and exposure to violence, which strengthens the argument for state intervention in their use by minors.
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