France’s Constitutional Council has struck down the law banning social media for children under 15, ruling on August 14 that the measure was a disproportionate infringement of minors’ freedom of expression and that its age-verification requirement lacked privacy safeguards.
The council found the ban, passed by parliament on July 21 and due to take effect September 1, was not adapted, necessary and proportionate to the aim pursued. It acknowledged the constitutional requirement to protect the best interests of the child. But it held the prohibition broad enough to reach online services whose risks to minors’ health and safety have not been established, and found the law’s exceptions for online encyclopedias and educational or scientific directories too limited.
The council faulted the age-check mechanism separately. The law required platforms to install one or more age-verification systems at sign-up without detailing how they would work. By failing to set the conditions and limits of that verification, the council held, the legislature provided none of the legal guarantees needed to protect users’ privacy.
The law would have barred under-15s from social networks including TikTok, Snapchat, X and Instagram, from social features of sites such as YouTube, from messaging services including WhatsApp and Messenger, and from some online games. Socialist and La France Insoumise deputies referred the law to the council at the end of July. The text had been heavily reworked between the National Assembly and the Senate, which rewrote much of the law to add a blacklist of covered networks and narrow its scope, an idea the final version dropped over concerns it would not conform with European law.
President Emmanuel Macron has instructed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to produce a new draft that accounts for the decision and the European framework, with the Élysée saying his determination to complete the reform by spring 2027 is undiminished. A study published in July by Arcom, the audiovisual and digital regulator, found more than two-thirds of 10-to-14-year-olds favoured the ban. France’s adoption of the law was a first in Europe, following Australia’s move in late 2025 to bar under-16s from social media.
The decision comes weeks after parliament passed the ban with its age-check details unresolved. It follows years of French pressure for stronger minors’ protections, including Macron’s earlier push for a minors’ ban with facial recognition floated for enforcement.
Sources: France 24
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By Ji-seo Kim
