France's Top Court Blocks Social Media Ban For Under-15s (yahoo.com)
(Friday August 14, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD)
from the banned-ban dept.)
- Reference: 0184976027
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/14/2019223/frances-top-court-blocks-social-media-ban-for-under-15s
- Source link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/frances-top-court-rules-social-132009924.html
France's Constitutional Council has struck down a law that would have [1]banned children under 15 from social media, ruling that it [2]disproportionately restricted freedom of expression and lacked adequate privacy safeguards around age verification . President Emmanuel Macron has asked the government to rewrite the measure, with the goal of putting a revised version in place before spring 2027. Reuters reports:
> "The Council holds that the contested provisions, on the one hand, disproportionately infringe upon the freedom of expression and communication and, on the other, fail to provide the legal safeguards necessary to ensure the right to respect for private life," it said.
>
> French lawmakers had approved the bill in July, becoming the first in Europe to follow Australia, whose world-first ban barred access to platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for under-16s in December. Lawmakers there are considering stricter penalties after data showed mixed success.
>
> Countries around the globe, including China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, have either instituted measures intended to curtail or bar access to social media for young people, or have said they were planning them. The European Union has said it was planning to seek stronger protections for children from harmful social media features.
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/21/216206/france-becomes-first-european-country-to-ban-social-media-access-for-under-15s
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/frances-top-court-rules-social-media-ban-curtails-freedom-expression-2026-08-14/
> "The Council holds that the contested provisions, on the one hand, disproportionately infringe upon the freedom of expression and communication and, on the other, fail to provide the legal safeguards necessary to ensure the right to respect for private life," it said.
>
> French lawmakers had approved the bill in July, becoming the first in Europe to follow Australia, whose world-first ban barred access to platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for under-16s in December. Lawmakers there are considering stricter penalties after data showed mixed success.
>
> Countries around the globe, including China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, have either instituted measures intended to curtail or bar access to social media for young people, or have said they were planning them. The European Union has said it was planning to seek stronger protections for children from harmful social media features.
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/21/216206/france-becomes-first-european-country-to-ban-social-media-access-for-under-15s
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/frances-top-court-rules-social-media-ban-curtails-freedom-expression-2026-08-14/
I can see why they struck it down (Score:2)
by Krishnoid ( 984597 )
If French adults are [1]prepared to protest [cbsnews.com] the Olympics, I bet taking away social media from French kids is bound to meet some comparably creative outrage.
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/parisians-threatening-to-poop-in-the-seine-river-this-weekend-to-protest-the-olympics/
Re: I can see why they struck it down (Score:2)
by drinkypoo ( 153816 )
They are smart enough to know an ID law when they see one
I applaud French court's reasoning! (Score:2)
by Locke2005 ( 849178 )
If they are old enough to have sex with, then they should be old enough to be on social media so you can find them to have sex with them!
Please think of the children! (Score:1)
by SmaryJerry ( 2759091 )
Why stop at social media? Ban the internet altogether, its unsafe! Also force children to wear helmets at all times and make them wear bubble wrap clothes.
Awesome (Score:1)
Amazing win for people in France. We all know none of these laws have anything to do with protecting children. They're all about digitally fingerprinting every individual online to their citizenship, censorship and prevention of dissent. Age verification laws are the means to technocracy and they should be opposed at every level.
It's the parent's responsibility to instill values about things like social media and pornography, not the state.