French justice halted the ban on social media for minors under 15 years old

The French Constitutional Council rejected this Friday the authoritarian bill promoted by Emmanuel Macron that established the prohibition of access to social networks for minors under 15 years old.

The highest body responsible for verifying the constitutionality of laws considered that the initiative disproportionately violated the freedom of expression of minors and that it also did not offer sufficient guarantees to protect their privacy.

The body, made up of nine members, specifically questioned article 1 of the project. According to its resolution, the provision “constitutes an infringement that is neither appropriate, nor necessary, nor proportionate” to the freedom of expression of minors.

The ruling also stated that the questioned provisions “disproportionately violate” that right and emphasized that the legislation did not include “the necessary legal guarantees to ensure respect for privacy”.

One of the main points observed by the Constitutional Council was the mechanism proposed to verify the age of users. The project established that all individuals must prove their age to access certain online services, but it did not specify under what conditions or with what limits that information should be provided.

The project had already been approved by Parliament

The legislation had been approved by French lawmakers in July and was set to take effect on September 1. The authoritarian initiative stipulated that no minor under 15 years old could open an account on digital platforms.

Starting in January, moreover, the prohibition would have extended to accounts that were already created. The platforms themselves would have had to close them within four months through an age verification mechanism validated by the French data protection regulator.

With parliamentary approval, France was on track to become the first European country to implement such a restriction.

Following the ruling, President Emmanuel Macron's office reported that the government will work “as quickly as possible” to modify the project and respond to the objections raised by the Constitutional Council.

Macron ordered Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to review the text taking into account the questions raised by the body and move forward with the authoritarian measure.

The debate on restrictions on minors' access to social networks is also extending to other countries. In May, the President of the European Commission, the leftist Ursula von der Leyen, proposed a “delay in the use of social networks” for minors within the European Union and anticipated possible new legislation.

In the United Kingdom, the leftist Keir Starmer announced in June that minors under 16 will be prohibited from accessing these platforms starting January 2027. Outside of Europe, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey have also adopted or announced similar measures to limit minors' access to social networks.