France has moved from debating a social media ban for children to actually scheduling one, with a specific rollout timeline that starts this September.
The National Assembly passed the bill by a decisive 279 to 81 vote on Tuesday, following approval from the Senate the same day. Under the legislation, platforms including apps like TikTok would be required to block anyone under 15 from creating a new account starting September 1. Existing accounts held by under-15s would then fall under the ban from January 2027, giving platforms a roughly 16-month window to phase out younger users entirely rather than cutting them off all at once.
President Emmanuel Macron celebrated the vote publicly, calling it a major step forward and framing the legislation as proof that France is leading Europe on protecting children online. He thanked lawmakers for backing the bill and noted that France's Constitutional Council still needs to rule on it before the government can move to enforcement.
Digital minister Anne Le Henanff defended the tight September deadline as realistic, arguing that age-verification tools already exist for platforms to use, with others still being finalized. She was direct about what compliance will actually look like in practice: for four months, everyone in France will effectively need to prove their age online, and any account confirmed to belong to someone under 15 will be closed. She also stressed that users' personal data submitted for verification would be protected.
France now joins a small but growing list of countries restricting youth access to social media, following Australia's ban in 2024, though onus for enforcing the age checks rests squarely on the platforms rather than French regulators actively policing every account.