PARIS: French lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday that would ban social media use by under-15s, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to protect children from excessive screen time.

The lower house, the National Assembly, adopted the text by a vote of 130 to 21 in a lengthy overnight session from Monday to Tuesday.

It will now go to the Senate, the upper house, ahead of becoming law.

Macron, on X, hailed the vote as a “major step” to protect French children and teenagers.

The legislation, which also provides for a ban on mobile phones in high schools, would make France the second country to take such a step following Australia’s ban for under-16s last month.

As social media has grown, so has concern that too much screen time and addictive algorithms are harming child development and contributing to mental health problems.

“The emotions of our children and teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated, either by American platforms or Chinese algorithms,” Macron said in a video broadcast on Saturday.

Authorities want the measures to be enforced from the start of the new school year, in September, for new accounts.

Former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who leads Macron’s Renaissance party in the lower house, said he hoped the Senate would pass the bill by mid-February so that the ban could come into force on Sept 1.

He added that “social media platforms will then have until Dec 31 to deactivate existing accounts” that do not comply with the age limit.

While backing France’s right to impose such a ban, the European Commission said any enforcement would lie with the EU, provided the bill conforms to the bloc’s laws.

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters it would ultimately be up to the EU to ensure that platforms implement adequate age-verification tools to help any ban become a reality.

In addition to combating the impact of screens and social media on the mental health of adolescents, Attal stressed that the measure would counter “a number of powers that, through social media platforms, want to colonise minds”.

“France can be a pioneer in Europe in a month: we can change the lives of our young people and our families, and perhaps also change the destiny of our country in terms of independence,” he said.

Exposure to violent content

France’s public health watchdog said this month that social media such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram had several detrimental effects on adolescents, particularly girls, though it was not the sole reason for their declining mental health.

The risks listed include cyberbullying and exposure to violent content.

The legislation stipulates that “access to an online social networking service provided by an online platform is prohibited for minors under the age of 15”. The draft bill excludes online encyclopedias and educational platforms.

An MP in the hard-left France Unbowed party criticised the ban as “a form of digital paternalism” and an “overly simplistic” response to the negative impact of technology. On Monday, nine child protection associations urged lawmakers to “hold platforms accountable”, not “ban” children from social media.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2026