One of France’s highest courts, the Constitutional Council, has invalidated a bill that would impose a ban on social media for children under 15. The law passed last month would have made France the first European country to implement this type of ban.
The court blocked the bill on the grounds that it would require every user to prove their age, children or not, without specifying exactly how that would happen. Verification is generally an obstacle in this type of legislation.
“By prohibiting minors under the age of fifteen from accessing certain online services, the law inherently requires any person, even an adult, to prove their age before accessing them,” the court indicated in its decision. “However, by failing to specify the conditions and limits within which such proof must be provided, the legislator has not put in place the legal guarantees necessary to ensure compliance with these requirements.”
That doesn’t mean French children can breathe a sigh of relief and continue to ponder the catastrophe well past bedtime. President Emmanuel Macron ordered Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to rework the bill, taking into account the Court’s concerns. This won’t be the last time we see this ban, as Macron has repeatedly signaled his support for the bill.
I was committed to it, it has now been voted on: social networks will be banned for under 15s at the start of the school year. Thank you to the parliamentarians. It is up to the Constitutional Council to rule, then action to make this measure concrete and protect our children online. pic.twitter.com/jC79unxX67
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 21, 2026
The French law follows a similar ban in Australia, which prohibits children under 16 from using platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube. This law has been the subject of legal challenges from social media companies. There are also a few studies indicating that it doesn’t really work and kids were still able to access social media.
Regardless, France is not the only European country exploring the idea of a social media ban for children. Denmark appears to be close to passing similar legislation and the United Kingdom is considering its own ban. On this side of the Atlantic, Canadian regulators have introduced their own bill aimed at banning social media for those 16 and under. A handful of U.S. states have passed laws aimed at restricting children’s use of social media, but these are not outright bans and usually require parental consent.
