A controversial proposal to prohibit children under 15 from using social media has been rejected by the Constitutional Council in France. This is a setback for President Emmanuel Macron as his key initiative to protect minors online has been rejected.
The law, which was to come into effect in September and was passed by both houses of parliament, was to ban access to social media accounts by children under 15 and end the creation of such accounts.
Users would also have had to go through age verification checks to ensure that they were of legal age on the platforms.
But the Constitutional Council deemed the proposed restrictions to infringe on fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression and the right to communication.
The court also noted privacy concerns, since age verification systems “may” require users to submit personal, sensitive information.
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The council also agreed that the aim of preventing children from being exposed to harms associated with social media use was acceptable but the law was unnecessarily stringent and offered inadequate legal protection.
It also raised the issue of the reliability of users’ age verification on platforms, without disclosing this data to third parties.
The decision will delay the proposed ban as planned. But Macron has indicated that his administration will not stop trying to limit kids’ use of social media.
Macron ordered Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to draft a new version of the law which addresses the concerns raised by the Constitutional Council.
The government plans to present a new draft of the bill by spring 2027, which could reignite the debate over the balance between France’s children’s freedoms and their online safety.
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