Macron wants to ban under-15s from schools

France plans to ban children under 15 from social media sites and to prohibit mobile phones in high schools from September 2026, the moves that underscore rising public angst over the impact of online harms on minors.



President Emmanuel Macron has often pointed to social media as one of the factors to blame for violence among young people and has signalled he wants France to follow Australia, whose world-first ban for under-16s on social media platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube came into force in December.



His government will submit draft legislation for legal checks this month.



Macron did not reference the legislative push in a New Year's Eve address but he did pledge to "protect our children and teenagers from social media and screens."



Mobile phones have been banned in French primary and middle schools since 2018 and the reported new changes would extend that ban to high schools.



Pupils aged 11 to 15 attend middle schools in the French educational system.



France also passed a ⁠law in 2023 requiring social platforms to obtain parental consent for under-15s to create accounts, though technical challenges have impeded its enforcement.