The French ban on social networks for those under 15 years of age will not come into force as planned. The Constitutional Council has censored the central article of the law approved in July, considering that a general ban of this type represents an excessive limitation on freedom of expression and communication and that the text also did not establish sufficient guarantees to preserve the privacy of users.
The decision represents a setback for Emmanuel Macron, who had made the restriction of social networks among minors one of the main measures of his policy to protect children on the internet. The French Parliament had definitively approved the rule on July 21 and the Executive intended to apply it from the beginning of the school year.
The president, however, has not closed the initiative. After learning of the ruling, he asked the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to prepare a new wording that can pass the constitutional test and be compatible with the European legal framework. Macron maintains the goal of carrying out a new regulation before the spring of 2027.
The Constitutional Court does not question the protection of minors
The Constitutional Council does not maintain that France lacks the capacity to limit minors’ access to social networks. On the contrary, it recognizes that there is a constitutional requirement to protect the “best interests of the child” and that this objective may justify certain restrictions.
The problem, according to the magistrates, is how the ban was designed. The rule indiscriminately affected all children under 15 years of age and a wide range of online communication services, without sufficiently differentiating between platforms, specific risks or personal circumstances.
The court considers that this general application may deprive minors of access to services that have not necessarily been demonstrated to present the same risks to their health or safety. He also questions that the law did not take into account factors such as the specific age, the degree of maturity of the minor or his family situation. The truth is that it is incredible what touched my balls. But outrageous.
Freedom of expression, at the center of the ruling
The main argument of the Constitutional Court is the balance between the protection of minors and fundamental freedoms. The court recalls that freedom of expression and communication constitutes an essential guarantee of a democratic society. Therefore, any restriction must be justified and bear a proportionate relationship with the objective it pursues.
In the French case, the magistrates conclude that the absolute prohibition for minors under 15 years of age does not pass this test. The measure, according to their reasoning, did not sufficiently distinguish between the different services or between the circumstances of the minors affected.
The resolution also raises a second problem: privacy. To make the ban effective, the platforms would have to determine the age of their users, but the law did not establish a specific verification system or sufficient legal guarantees on how this process should be carried out. Reuters points out that the Constitutional Court considered this aspect insufficiently defined.
A law approved with broad parliamentary support
The text had received considerable support in both French chambers. The Senate approved it by 243 votes to two and the National Assembly did the same by 279 to 81. The intention was for the ban to begin to apply with the new school year.
The rule did not establish a closed list of platforms. Its formulation allowed services such as Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat to be included, while it contemplated exceptions for certain services, including online encyclopedias, free software development platforms and some educational projects.
This breadth had already raised doubts during the parliamentary process. European legislation, and in particular the Digital Services Regulation (DSA), also conditioned France’s ability to impose certain obligations on large technology platforms.
France raises the debate on the digital age again
The French conflict is part of an international debate about up to what age minors should be able to access social networks and who should assume responsibility for controlling that access.
Australia has adopted one of the strictest restrictions, while other countries have studied parental consent formulas, age limits or verification systems. The French initiative aimed to place the country among the main European promoters of specific regulation for minors.
Macron has defended that responsibility should fall mainly on the platforms and has also promoted the search for European age verification systems. In April, the French president brought together several European leaders and the president of the European Commission to discuss the creation of a common minimum age and digital identification tools.
The debate, therefore, is not limited to deciding whether children under 15 years of age can use TikTok, Instagram or other networks. It also raises a broader question: how to protect minors from the risks associated with certain platforms without establishing controls that affect privacy or excessively restrict fundamental rights.
Macron maintains the goal for before 2027
The ruling now forces the French Government to rethink the chosen mechanism. The Elysée has assured that the decision does not modify the political will to protect minors and that Macron wants a new regulation to be approved before the end of his mandate, in May 2027.
The question now will be how to achieve a norm that achieves that objective without repeating the problems indicated by the Constitutional Court. France will have to find a balance between the protection of minors, freedom of communication and privacy guarantees, as well as aligning any new age control system with European rules.
The ban approved in July is thus annulled in its fundamental element, but the political debate on the minimum age to use social networks barely changes scene: it now moves from Parliament to the design of a new law.
