French President Macron vows to speed up social media ban for under-15s
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A teacher collecting a student's mobile phone at the Jean Mermoz vocational high school in Montsoult, Paris, on Jan 14.
PHOTO: AFP
- Macron wants to speed up a social media ban for under-15s in France, aiming for implementation by September.
- France is following Australia's lead, becoming the second nation to ban children under a certain age from platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
- Macron said children's brains "are not for sale or for manipulating," backing phone bans in schools alongside the social media restrictions (AFP).
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PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron on Jan 24 vowed to speed up the legislative process for a social media ban on under-15s
“I have asked the government to activate the accelerated procedure so it can go as quickly as possible,” he said in a self-recorded video broadcast on BFM Television.
He said he wanted it to be “applied from the start of the next school year”, in September.
French lawmakers have been debating the Bill for such a ban, following in the footsteps of Australia, which in December became the first country to prohibit children under the age of 16 from using such popular – and addictive – platforms as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Their draft legislation is to be submitted to the French Parliament on Jan 26.
Mr Macron said that, on top of a ban on children under 15 accessing social media, he also backed a ban on pupils using mobile phones in schools.
“The brains of our children and our adolescents are not for sale or for manipulating, not by US platforms, not by Chinese algorithms,” he said. AFP
