Macron threatens to ban social media for under-15s in France
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday evening that he is prepared to introduce a nationwide ban on social media access for children under the age of 15 “in the coming months” if the European Union fails to advance regulatory efforts in this area, reports a Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
Greece, supported by France and Spain, has been pushing for EU-level restrictions on screen time for teenagers. However, Macron emphasized the need for quicker national action in light of recent domestic incidents, including the fatal stabbing of a teaching assistant at a high school in Nogent, Haute-Marne.
“We cannot wait,” Macron stated during a televised interview on France 2 following the attack. He also announced plans to implement age verification for online knife sales, similar to existing controls on adult content.
“A 15-year-old will no longer be able to buy a knife online. That means we’re going to impose massive financial sanctions and bans,” he said. The move follows a declaration by Prime Minister François Bayrou, who earlier proposed banning the sale of “all knives” to minors.
Later that evening, Macron reiterated his stance in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “I'm banning social media for children under 15. Platforms have the ability to verify age. Let’s do it.”
French regulators are already pursuing age verification requirements for platforms such as X, Reddit, Bluesky, and Mastodon by reclassifying them under the same legal framework as pornographic websites. France’s age verification law for adult sites came into force on June 7, prompting Pornhub to withdraw from the French market. The change also led to a surge in demand for virtual private networks (VPNs), as users sought to circumvent the restrictions.
Earlier, it was reported that a ruling party lawmaker in New Zealand introduced a bill to ban social media for those under 16, with backing from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
