French Court Overturns Social Media Ban for Under-15s
The Constitutional Council said the ban was too broad and lacked privacy safeguards, forcing the government to rewrite the measure.
- On Friday, France's Constitutional Council struck down legislation banning social media access for children under 15, ruling the measure disproportionately infringed on freedom of expression and failed to provide sufficient legal safeguards for privacy.
- The Council objected to the law's blanket nature, noting it denied minors access without assessing individual risks or maturity and failed to specify the "conditions and limits" for age verification.
- Judges acknowledged that protecting "the best interests of the child" can justify restricting access, but ruled the restriction could not be imposed in this manner; platforms like Facebook and TikTok were tasked with verification.
- French President Emmanuel Macron ordered Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to produce a "legally robust draft" of the legislation as quickly as possible, signaling the administration's determination to rework the bill.
- The Elysee Palace stated Macron intends to implement internet reforms before the spring 2027 presidential election, though the government may face pushback from the France Unbowed party, which previously criticized the sweeping ban.
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Emmanuel Macron, who hopes to introduce this measure before his departure from the Elysée, has instructed the Prime Minister to "work" on a new "legally robust drafting" of this measure.
Emmanuel Macron commissioned Sébastien Lecornu to "work" on a "legally robust drafting" of the ban on social networks for children under 15 years of age whose version adopted in Parliament was censored on Thursday by the Constitutional Council. For his part, the law on the "right to help die" does not include "no article contrary to the Constitution" thus definitively paving the way for assistance to suicide and euthanasia, in specific and super…
French court blocks Macron’s social media ban for children under 15
France’s top court struck down on Friday a law championed by President Emmanuel Macron that would have made it illegal for children to have social media accounts. The law, approved by lawmakers in July, was set to take effect at the start of the new school year in September, banning children under 15 from having […]
After the decision of the Constitutional Council, France Insoumise, at the initiative of this referral, rejoices while the government accuses the coup but announces not wanting to stay there.
The members of the Constitutional Council decided as follows: the Government cannot ban social networks until the age of 15. Censorship of the law introduced to this effect must invite Sébastien Lecornu to change his strategy considers Alexandre Poplavsky, our editorialist of the day.
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