Follow Australia, France Ready to Ban Social Media for Children Under 15 Starting 2026

French President Emmanuel Macron (photo: x @AbiyAhmedAli)

JAKARTA - France is preparing to follow Australia's lead by designing a ban on the use of social media for children under the age of 15, which is targeted to take effect from the start of the 2026 school year. The government of President Emmanuel Macron considers the policy urgent amid growing concerns over the psychological impact of social media on the younger generation.

The draft law containing the ban will soon be submitted to the Conseil d'État for a legal test before being discussed in parliament at the beginning of next year. This rule is directly inspired by Australia's policy, which in December 2025 became the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from accessing platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

A number of French media reported that the draft law includes two main policies, namely a ban on social media for children under 15 years of age and a ban on the use of mobile phones in high schools. Mobile phones have previously been banned in primary and secondary schools in France.

The government targets the social media ban policy to be implemented in September 2026. In the draft bill, the government highlights the risks of excessive screen use by teenagers, ranging from exposure to inappropriate content, online bullying, sleep disorders, to declining academic performance.

Macron on several occasions emphasized the global consensus that is beginning to form regarding restrictions on social media for children. He said the longer the screen time spent by teenagers, the greater the risk of mental health disorders and reduced learning achievement. The French president even likened children who have free access to social media to teenagers who immediately drive a Formula 1 car without ever learning to drive.

France's move is in line with a global trend. In addition to Australia, countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Malaysia are also considering or designing a social media ban for children starting in 2026. In the UK, the government has not ruled out a similar policy, although it insists that decisions must be based on strong scientific evidence.

The French Minister for Digital Affairs and Artificial Intelligence, Anne Le Hénanff, emphasized that a ban on social media for children under 15 years of age is a government priority. He ensured that the draft law would be drafted briefly and remain in line with EU law, in particular the Digital Services Act which regulates online content supervision.

This policy is also part of Macron's efforts to shape a legacy of policies in his last year in office, amid a divided parliament and a still-ongoing budget discussion process for 2026.

The push to ban social media for children in France has been strengthened after a parliamentary report in September last year called TikTok a "slow poison" for children. The investigation was formed following a lawsuit by seven families in 2024 who accused the platform of exposing their children to content that was harmful to mental health.