President Macron has announced that France will follow Australia and ban social media platforms for schoolchildren in 2026.
A bill barring under-15s from using social media and prohibiting mobile phones in secondary schools has been drafted and is expected to be debated by parliament early in January.
Macron referred to the measure in his new year’s address to the nation. “We will protect our children and our teenagers from social media and screens,” he said, speaking at the Élysée Palace.
In recent weeks he has said he wants France to take similar steps to Australia, the world’s first country to ban social media platforms for under-16s. The measure came into force in December.
Macron’s announcement reflects growing public concern over online harm to minors. It also stems from his desire to remain relevant since he called a snap parliamentary election in 2024 that produced a series of weak minority governments, pitching France into its worst political crisis in decades.
The deeply unpopular president has been left largely powerless to direct domestic policymaking, although he remains in charge of foreign and defence policy. The government has so far failed to pass a budget for 2026, but there is considerable cross-party support for a social media ban.
The bill would also extend an existing prohibition on mobile phones in schools for children up to the age of 15 to all those in secondary education.
Mobile phones will be banned in schools
LOIC VENANCE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
France passed a law in 2023 requiring social media platforms to obtain parental consent for under-15s to create accounts, but it has proved difficult to enforce because of technical problems.
Further restrictions on children’s access to social media would enjoy overwhelming public approval, polls suggest. Some 73 per cent of respondents to a Harris Interactive survey in 2024 said they supported legislation to keep under-15s off social media.
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The bill is to be submitted for review to the Conseil d’État, the high court that adjudicates public administration, on January 8. Teachers’ unions will also be consulted, and the government wants the social media ban to come into force in September.
The bill says teenagers need to be protected from “excessive screen use” and the risk of exposure to inappropriate online content, online bullying and disrupted sleep patterns.
Macron’s last full year in office will be 2026, before a presidential election that is due to take place in 2027.