France’s plan to block children under 15 from social media has hit a constitutional roadblock.
The Constitutional Council on Friday blocked the measure, ruling that the restrictions placed an excessive burden on freedom of expression and communication while also raising concerns about how users’ ages would be verified.
The ruling does not end President Emmanuel Macron’s push for tougher social-media rules for children. Instead, it forces the government to rethink how an age ban could be enforced without creating disproportionate restrictions or new privacy risks.
France’s approved bill gets a stop sign
At the center of France’s proposal was a simple rule: children under 15 would not be allowed to access social media.
The measure was due to begin on September 1, 2026. New accounts for under-15s would have been prohibited from that date, while existing accounts would have received a four-month transition period.
For Macron, the restriction was part of a broader effort to reduce what he sees as the harms associated with early social-media use. He has argued that children can be exposed to harmful material, online harassment and social pressure before they are emotionally and psychologically prepared for it, while also losing time that could otherwise go toward sleep, education, reading, sport, and offline relationships.
Why France’s Constitutional Council said no
Parliament may have approved France’s under-15 social media ban, with a Senate vote of 243–2 and National Assembly vote of 279–81, but that was not the final word.
Per Reuters, France’s Constitutional Council concluded that this measure imposed an excessive burden on freedom of expression and communication.
The Council also objected to the safeguards around age verification. A system that prevents under-15s from accessing a service must verify users’ ages, but could create privacy concerns. The ruling therefore challenged the way Parliament designed the restriction rather than the government’s stated goal of protecting children online.
What Australia’s experience means for France and others
Australia’s experience with its own youth social-media restrictions has already illustrated some of the technical challenges France could face when rewriting its proposal. Platforms can identify and remove accounts believed to belong to underage users, but age-assurance systems are not foolproof and can potentially be circumvented.
That suggests that France may face the same basic problem when it tries again.
Macron has already indicated that France will rewrite the proposal rather than abandon the policy, and has instructed the French Prime Minister to draft a replacement with the aim of implementing the ban in the early months of 2027.
France’s ruling could also matter beyond its borders as governments elsewhere consider similar age restrictions. The challenge is increasingly not just whether lawmakers can set a minimum age for social media, but whether they can enforce it without requiring intrusive identity checks, restricting lawful access or creating new privacy risks for every user.
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