France's Constitutional Court Blocks Macron's Ban on Social Media for Under-15s
The French government's attempt to restrict minors' presence on social media suffered a major legal setback when France's Constitutional Council, equivalent to Israel's Supreme Court, struck down a proposed law banning all under-15s from using social networks. The legislation, strongly supported across party lines in both the National Assembly and Senate and personally championed by President Emmanuel Macron, was halted on grounds that it disproportionately infringed on constitutionally protected freedom of expression and communication.
The initiative aimed to take effect before the new school year and included a comprehensive ban on smartphone use in schools, with exceptions for educational databases and open platforms like Wikipedia and GitHub. Macron framed the move as essential to protect young people's mental health from addictive algorithms employed by major American and Chinese tech companies. Following the ruling, the French government plans to draft a revised version by next spring to overcome constitutional hurdles and secure a key presidential achievement before Macron's term ends.
This legal clash in France is part of a global wave of stricter regulation efforts, highlighting the gap between political declarations and technological feasibility alongside civil rights protections. Countries such as the UK, Norway, Spain, and Greece are pursuing similar age restrictions, while Australia's experience reveals enforcement challenges: despite strict age limits, about 85% of teens with active accounts still access them via VPNs or due to ineffective platform controls.
Regulatory approaches worldwide vary significantly. In the US, state attempts to impose age limits and parental consent face First Amendment challenges, with privacy laws for children also playing a role. Israel focuses mainly on awareness, national protection centers, and parliamentary discussions on online bullying without broad blocking measures. China employs an extreme model mandating real-name identification and automatic "minor modes" that strictly limit screen time and content.
At the core of this issue lies a complex technological and privacy challenge: reliably verifying age without compromising user privacy. Existing methods like facial recognition and AI age estimation have significant error rates among adolescents. Conversely, requiring official ID uploads risks creating sensitive data repositories vulnerable to breaches. Until decentralized encryption solutions enable age verification without full identity disclosure, legal battles between regulators and tech giants are expected to continue.
