France will ban social media for those under 15 within months, says president Macron

India Today

a day ago

France may soon ban access to social media for children under 15 years of age. President Emmanuel Macron announced that the government would move to restrict access for children under the age of 15 in the coming months if the European Union does not take similar action. Macron's announcement came hours after a tragic incident at a middle school in Nogent, eastern France.advertisementA 14-year-old student fatally stabbed a 31-year-old school staff member during a routine bag check for weapons. A police officer was also injured while trying to detain the attacker, who allegedly used the same knife in both assaults."We must ban social media for those under 15 I'm giving us a few months to get the European mobilisation going. Otherwise we'll start doing it in France. We can't wait," Macron said in an interview with the TV channel France 2.
Macron stressed that there is a rising culture of youth violence, which in part is being fuelled by unsupervised access to digital platforms for children. His comments come at a time when several countries are raising concerns about the impact of social media on children and teenagers. While French investigators have not confirmed whether the stabbing was influenced by online content, Macron and other officials have reportedly pointed to social platforms as a contributing factor in the rise of aggression amongst youth.advertisementFollowing his interview, Macron also took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), urging tech companies to step up. 'Platforms have the ability to verify age. Do it,' he posted, echoing calls from child safety experts who argue that age-gating measures are both possible and necessary.Notably, if France does impose a ban on social media usage for children, it would not be the first country to enact such strict regulations. Last year, Australia introduced a ban last year for users under 16, following an intense national debate. The government suggested it would use some form of age-verification technology to enforce the restriction and plans to test more options in the coming months.The country enforced the ban for at least 12 months and imposed fines of up to A$50million ( that is around $32.5million) on tech companies in case they fail to comply with the orders. The Australian Prime Minister said strong legislation is required to protect the younger generation from the 'harms' caused by social media. 'We want our kids to have a childhood and parents to know we have their backs,' he told reporters (via BBC). Australia's ban on social media access to children applies to platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X. Although the order exempts gaming and messaging apps, since these platforms cannot be accessed without creating an account.