The country’s new law also bans the use of cell phones in schools.
French regulators have passed a bill banning social media for children under 15, CNN reports. The new bill, if approved by France’s Constitutional Council, could make the country the first member of the European Union to ban social media after adoption of a similar resolution in Australia in 2024.
The new law aims to combat the negative health effects of social media use on children, as well as banning the use of mobile phones in schools and introducing new rules regarding social media advertising. in accordance with Associated Press. Regulators have proposed using age verification tools to determine whether users are old enough to create an account, although it is unclear what system social media platforms must implement to comply with the law. The decision could ultimately be made by ARCOM, France’s digital communications regulator, which will enforce the ban once it is in place.
Depending on whether President Emmanuel Macron gets his way, those details could emerge soon. U message X After thanking parliament for approving the ban, Macron called for the law to be implemented by the start of the school year in September. Earlier, Macron asked to speed up the vote on the ban in parliament, CNN writes.
France is not the only country in Europe considering a ban on social media, but it is poised to be the first to actually implement it. Great Britain explored the possibility of a banand already partially fulfills it through the requirements of the age limit Internet Security Act. Denmark, separately, is is close to imposing its own bantoo. On the other side of the Atlantic, Canadian regulators have presented their bill ban social networks for children under 16 in June.
While lawmakers around the world are pushing for bans, it’s worth noting the potential downsides. At least two separate studies published in April and June found that a significant number of Australian children continued to use social media after the ban, possibly due to social platforms’ lax approach to age verification. As reported by A early problems with Roblox’s age verification system it is assumed that the implementation of these systems is also difficult in itself. The consequences of the French ban may well be fraught with similar problems.