France is preparing to roll out a social media ban for kids in September that would prohibit these platforms from allowing access to children under 15 years old.

Draft legislation was announced on December 31, and France’s legal advisory branch is expected to share its opinion on it this Thursday. After that, the government will debate the bill, which is backed by President Emmanuel Macron as a major proponent of a ban.

If the legislation is approved, it would be a culmination of several years of work to try and keep kids away from social media networks. French lawmakers are concerned that social media exposes kids to inappropriate content and negative experiences like cyberbullying, while also encouraging excessive screen time.

The ban would also shut down one effective route for brands looking to reach French kids. In 2022, more than half of all 11- to 14-year-olds in the country had accounts on one or more social networks, according to a report from France’s Digital Society Lab.

The draft law is also seeking to prohibit mobile phones in high schools, extending a ban that has been in place since 2018 to prevent 11- to 15-year-olds from having phone access in school. (Back in 2023, France passed legislation establishing 15 as its digital legal age, but this conflicted with EU laws so it was never officially enacted.)

If France’s legislation passes into law, it will be the second country to roll out a blanket social media ban for kids, following Australia in November. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed France’s move toward a ban, noting that many kid-owned accounts down under have already been closed, which he says shows the ban there is working.

A ban in France could be a tipping point that galvanizes other EU countries to introduce social media laws of their own. In November, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an EU-wide minimum social media age of 16. Almost all (96%) 15-year-olds in the EU have used social media platforms, with more than a third of them spending more than three hours per day there, according to 2022 data from the Joint Research Center.

A handful of other countries could also jump on the ban bandwagon, with Brazil, New Zealand and Norway among those considering similar legislation.

Photo by Chris Karidis on Unsplash