What is France’s revised proposal to ban social media for children under 15, why was its original legislation struck down by the Constitutional Council, how is the new draft being designed to comply with European Union law, and how does President Emmanuel Macron’s push for an EU

France has replaced its failed blanket under-15 social-media prohibition with a narrower, reworked proposal, while Macron is simultaneously urging Brussels to establish a common EU minimum age. The central policy tension is child protection versus minors’ rights to communicate freely and the EU’s rules for the digital single market. 458

France’s revised proposal and the court ruling

• Parliament’s original July law would have broadly barred children under 15 from social-media platforms. 5
• The Constitutional Council struck down the central restriction in August because it was an unnecessary and disproportionate infringement of freedom of expression and communication for the affected minors. 58
• France has now notified the European Commission of a reworked draft. Available reporting indicates that it moves away from the invalidated blanket-access model toward more targeted restrictions on harmful platform functions for under-15s; the precise final list of features and enforcement mechanisms is not fully established in the available evidence. 8

EU-law design

• The redesign is intended to be both constitutionally narrower—targeting risks rather than all online communication—and compatible with EU law rather than creating an unjustified national barrier for cross-border digital services. 58
• Notification to the Commission is part of that approach: it gives the Commission the opportunity to examine compatibility with the EU’s harmonised digital-services framework before France proceeds. 8
• Insufficient evidence is available here to state the final legal mechanism, the complete age-verification method, or whether the Commission will endorse the French draft.

Macron’s EU-wide initiative

• In an August 29 letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Macron called for EU legislation banning social-media access for under-15s—a “European” rule rather than 27 divergent national systems. 47
• That effort follows France’s domestic setback, but it also seeks an EU-level legal basis and common enforcement standard that could avoid fragmentation in regulation of global platforms. 47

Where other European proposals fit

• The Netherlands and Spain are also pressing for an EU-wide minimum age for social-media use, with calls for harmonised EU enforcement and possible extension to video games and AI chatbots. 7
• The European Commission was expected to set out its own proposal in this area, placing Macron’s request within a broader live EU policy debate rather than as a stand-alone French initiative. 7
• The significant differences still concern the age threshold, which services are covered, whether the rule is a complete account/access ban or a feature restriction, and the privacy implications of age assurance. Insufficient evidence is available to say that a single EU position has been agreed. 7

International comparison

• Australia became the first country reported to have implemented a social-media ban for under-16s, covering major services including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. 3
• The United Kingdom plans an under-16 social-media ban modelled on Australia’s approach, alongside limits for under-18s on specific risky functions such as livestreaming and contact by strangers; it was expected to be brought to Parliament before Christmas, with protections envisaged for spring 2027. 12
• Japan is taking a more cautious, non-blanket path: the available evidence indicates no outright minor social-media ban, while policy discussion has focused on stronger age checks, safer defaults and platform duties. 8

Taken together, these initiatives show a shift from voluntary platform safeguards toward mandatory age-based regulation, but France’s court ruling illustrates that broad bans must still satisfy constitutional proportionality, privacy, and free-expression constraints. 58