France’s social media ban is the first of its kind in the EU, but lacks an enforcement mechanism due to clashes with the DSA
The National Assembly and Senate struggled to agree on the legislation with further legal uncertainty looming
On 21 July 2026, the French National Assembly and Senate passed a bill banning under-15s from using social media, after going through various drafts. The National Assembly first passed a bill that would have required social media services in France to refuse to register minors under the age of 15, and block access for all under-18s between 10pm and 8am. The French State Council noted that neither the blanket ban nor the overnight curfew appeared necessary or proportionate and could violate children’s fundamental rights. As a result, the Senate modified this draft, removing the blanket ban and replacing this with a two-tiered system, where “blacklisted” platforms would be banned while allowing minors to access others with parental consent, although a specific list of platforms was never named. However, the EC noted that this approach would entail some overlap with the DSA, particularly in terms of how it would be enforced, leading the French Government to go back to the blanket ban but remove sanctions for non-compliance. The bill now faces further complications, having been referred to the Constitutional Council for review, which will decide whether the legislation should be overturned within the next month.
Concerns that the proposed bill would conflict with the DSA means the ban no longer has an enforcement mechanism, which reduces its likely impact
In a notification letter from the EC, it noted that while the DSA does not oppose national laws prescribing a minimum age to access certain products or services offered online, establishing a “blacklist” of online services considered harmful and setting out requirements related to parental consent and age verification may fall under the DSA’s scope of application. It noted that while Member States may introduce age-based restrictions for social media, this should not “put obligations on the providers of online platforms”. The DSA also contains obligations applicable to Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) in relation to the protection of minors. These platforms are generally supervised by either the EC or the national Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) of the Member State where the platform has its main establishment, and as many social media platforms (such as Instagram, Tiktok and X) do not have their main headquarters in France, enforcing the restrictions would therefore overlap with the DSA. As a result, text empowering Arcom to enforce the restrictions, with a maximum financial penalty of 3% of global turnover, was removed from the bill. This is likely to reduce the impact of the ban, as platforms will be less incentivised to comply with the regulations.
While the bill has limited legal scope, it could encourage a harmonised, EU-wide approach
The lack of any enforcement mechanism suggests that the impact of the social media ban will be limited. Catherine Morin-Desailly (Rapporteur, Senate) has acknowledged this, stating that “the ban concerns minors themselves, without any sanction mechanism”. This is the first European ban to be adopted (the UK’s is still pending), with nine other EU Member States also considering social media bans for minors according to our Age-Based Restrictions Benchmark in the Online Safety Tracker. However, there is growing pressure for a harmonised approach at the EU-level to prevent overlaps with the DSA and national regulation. Laurent Lafon (Chair, Senate’s Culture Committee) has stated that the French law will “need to be reinforced by European legislation”. An online safety panel commissioned by the EC published its recommendations in July, and did not advocate for a strict age-based ban but did suggest that Member States should be free to introduce higher or additional age restrictions. Ursula von der Leyen (President, EC) is expected to announce social media restrictions in September 2026, although it is unclear the extent to which she will follow these recommendations.
