French lawmakers approve bill banning social media for children under 15

PARIS — French lawmakers authorised a invoice banning social media for youngsters underneath 15, paving the best way for the measure to enter into pressure at the beginning of the subsequent college yr in September, as the concept of setting a minimal age to be used of the platforms gains momentum across Europe.

The invoice, which additionally bans the usage of cellphones in excessive faculties, was adopted by a 130-21 vote late Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron has requested that the laws be fast-tracked and it’ll now be mentioned by the Senate within the coming weeks.

“Banning social media for these underneath 15: that is what scientists advocate, and that is what the French individuals are overwhelmingly calling for,” Macron mentioned after the vote. “As a result of our kids’s brains should not on the market — neither to American platforms nor to Chinese language networks. As a result of their desires should not be dictated by algorithms.”

The difficulty is without doubt one of the only a few in a divided Nationwide Meeting to draw such broad help, regardless of critics from the arduous left denouncing provisions of the invoice as infringement on civil liberties. Weakened domestically since his resolution to dissolve parliament plunged France into a chronic political disaster, Macron has strongly supported the ban, which might grow to be one of many last main measures adopted underneath his management earlier than he leaves workplace subsequent yr.

The French authorities had beforehand handed a legislation banning phone use in all primary and middle schools.

The vote within the meeting got here simply days after the British authorities mentioned it is going to take into account banning young teenagers from social media because it tightens legal guidelines designed to guard youngsters from dangerous content material and extreme display time.

The French invoice has been devised to be compliant with the European Union’s Digital Companies Act, which imposes a set of strict necessities designed to maintain web customers protected on-line. In November, European lawmakers known as for motion at EU stage to guard minors on-line, together with a bloc-wide minimal age of 16 and bans on probably the most dangerous practices.

Based on France’s well being watchdog, one in two youngsters spends between two and 5 hours a day on a smartphone. In a report revealed in December, it mentioned that some 90% of kids aged between 12 and 17 use smartphones every day to entry the web, with 58% of them utilizing their gadgets for social networks.

The report highlighted a variety of dangerous results stemming from the usage of social networks, together with decreased vanity and elevated publicity to content material related to dangerous behaviors equivalent to self-harm, drug use and suicide. A number of households in France have sued TikTok over teen suicides they are saying are linked to dangerous content material.

The French ban gained’t cowl on-line encyclopedias, academic or scientific directories, or platforms for the event and sharing of open-source software program.

In Australia, social media corporations have revoked entry to about 4.7 million accounts recognized as belonging to youngsters since the country banned use of the platforms by these underneath 16, officers mentioned. The legislation provoked fraught debates in Australia about expertise use, privateness, youngster security and psychological well being and has prompted different international locations to think about related measures.