France became the first European Union country to bar children under 15 from opening social media accounts, after both chambers of Parliament gave a compromise bill final approval on July 21.
France's Senate and National Assembly reached the compromise text a day earlier in a joint conciliation committee, resolving differences between their earlier versions, according to LCP, the parliamentary broadcast channel. The bill's full legislative record, kept by the National Assembly, shows it originated with lawmaker Laure Miller in November 2025, following a parliamentary inquiry into social media's effects on children, before the government fast-tracked it through an accelerated procedure.
Under the final text, France will bar anyone under 15 from opening a new account on a social media platform or video-sharing service starting September 1, while people who already have accounts get a four-month transition period. Lawmakers dropped the Senate's earlier two-tier plan, which would have let parents grant access to certain platforms; the compromise instead applies a single, near-total ban, carving out exceptions only for educational sites and digital encyclopedias.
Gabriel Attal, who leads the Renaissance party's bloc in the National Assembly, called the agreement an "immense victory," arguing that social media damages children's concentration, sleep, and self-esteem, per LCP.
The law still must clear France's Constitutional Council, where several left-wing lawmakers have already challenged the proportionality of its restrictions, and the government has not yet detailed how platforms will verify a user's age once the ban takes effect.
