French Lawmakers Vote To Ban Social Media Use By Under-15s (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0180680832
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/26/01/28/2233210/french-lawmakers-vote-to-ban-social-media-use-by-under-15s
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/27/france-social-media-ban-under-15s
> The lower 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, France's upper house, ahead of becoming law. Macron hailed the vote as a "major step" to protect French children and teenagers in a post on X. 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 [2]Australia's ban for under-16s in December . [...] "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 2026 school year for new accounts.
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> 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 September 1. He added that "social media platforms will then have until December 31 to deactivate existing accounts" that do not comply with the age limit. [...] The draft bill excludes online encyclopedias and educational platforms. An effective age verification system would have to come into force for the ban to become reality. Work on such a system is under way at the European level.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/27/france-social-media-ban-under-15s
[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2112230/millions-of-australian-teens-lose-access-to-social-media-as-ban-takes-effect
One weird trick to solving delinquency in youth! (Score:1)
Guaranteed to work!
Just in case, though, be sure to line up a next designated scapegoat.
May I suggest vape pens and excess soy?
The dominos are falling (Score:2)
I expect that by the end of 2026, a half dozen more countries will institute similar bans.
I don't know that age-based bans are a good idea. I think certain business models should be banned. Specifically, any business model that depends on "engagement" for revenue should be banned because it leads to deliberately making platforms addictive and harmful to people's health, and any business model that depends on violating your privacy to feed you personalized ads (or that sells your data to others) should b
Re: (Score:2)
This is wisdom. Its funny how adults are supposed to be immune to the sickness these websites cause which clearly they are the ones who are most negatively effected by them.
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They get so incredibly pissed when you point it out, too. I remember leaving a comment once that said simply, "Wait until you see what it does to the adults." that got downmodded immediately. Pretty sure it happened more than once.
I think they confused the moderation feature with a "reaction" button.
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If your posts don't get downmodded immediately on a somewhat regular basis then you aren't doing it right!
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Precisely. Facebook, etc. employ armies of developers and psychologists who are really, really good at hacking people's brains. Even smart people are basically defenseless against the resources Facebook can bring to bear to suck you in. Which is why I cancelled all my social media accounts a while back... at least on "engagement-based" platforms.
You can't win against them. The only option is not to play their game.
Let me guess (Score:3)
You need to use your real identity to prove you're an adult (tm)
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Sharing the real name wouldn't be compatible with first principle of GDPR, which is to only collect data necessary for the purpose. The age verification project is based on a digital ID wallet, which contains the real information but only shares the necessary 1/0 bit related to a regulated age. More here: [1]https://ageverification.dev/ [ageverification.dev]
[1] https://ageverification.dev/
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That seems cool. If they do this in America will they do it with the same caution and thoughtfulness I wonder? I really doubt it.
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Australia has done this.
No Real ID was required and no adults I know had to do anything.
The social media companies already know more about you than your mother.