00:00The French National Assembly backed banning social media for children under 15.
00:05Social network sites and applications who fail to comply will be subject to a hefty fine.
00:10Laura Miller, the bill's author, underscored that children's minds are not a marketplace.
00:16The situation is clear. Our children read less, move less, sleep less and compare themselves more.
00:23It seems to me that we could and should unite behind a simple yet essential fight,
00:27refusing to let childhood become a market and allowing our youth to be the playground of algorithms.
00:35The proposed ban comes after Australia passed a world-first social media prohibition law for youth under 16,
00:41which entered into force in December 2025.
00:44The French legislation will also stop smartphone use in high schools.
00:48Supported by the far and centre-right national rally in Republican parties,
00:52the bill was opposed by the far-left France Unbowed,
00:55who criticised it as showpiece legislation that fails to address the use of education-mandated digital platforms.
01:01It is intended to appease people, but we know full well that it won't have any real impact.
01:08Schools already have the power to ban screens and phones through their internal rules,
01:12but the Ministry of Education still needs to stop using Prono,
01:16which makes children addicted to checking screens.
01:19Making the issue a centrepiece for his final year in office,
01:24French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a speedy passage of the bill
01:28to be enforced next September, the start of the 2026 academic year.
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