BBC. France’s parliament has approved a law to ban social media for under-15s from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from the platforms.
The law will mean everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes as the UK and EU are developing their own limits in response to concerns for children’s mental health.
It will be implemented in two stages:
- From September, people under 15 will not be able to open accounts and age verification will be required on all new accounts
- In January 2027, this rule will apply to all existing accounts – meaning everyone in France will have to prove they are over 15 to use social media
Once the ban is in place, social media platforms would need to use age-verification tools approved by the French privacy regulator, according to Reuters news agency.
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But concerns have been raised over privacy, the efficacy of age-verification tools, the risks of young people bypassing them, and how quickly the ban has been designed and brought in, Agence France Presse reports.
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