France's top court strikes down social media ban for children under 15

President Macron has asked the government to rewrite the legislation.

One of France's top courts, the constitutional council, has struck down a bill that would mandate a social media ban for children under 15 . The law passed last month and would have made France the first European country with this type of ban in place.

The court blocked the bill on the grounds that it forces every user to prove their age, children or not, without specifying exactly how that would go down. The verification piece is typically a hurdle with this kind of legislation .

"By prohibiting minors under the age of ​fifteen from accessing certain online services, the ⁠law inherently requires every person, even an adult, to ​prove their age before accessing them," the court said in its decision. "However, by failing to specify the conditions and limits under which such proof must be provided, the ​legislature has not established the legal safeguards necessary ​to ensure compliance with these requirements."

This doesn't mean that France's children can breathe a sigh of relief and continue to doomscroll way past bedtime. President Emmanuel Macron has ordered Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to rework the draft legislation, taking into consideration the court's concerns. It won't be the last we see of this ban, as Macron has signaled on multiple occasions his support for the bill.

Je m'y étais engagé, c'est désormais voté : les réseaux sociaux seront interdits aux moins de 15 ans à la rentrée. Merci aux parlementaires. Au Conseil constitutionnel de statuer puis place à l'action pour rendre cette mesure concrète et protéger nos enfants en ligne. pic.twitter.com/jC79unxX67

France's law follows a similar ban in Australia, which bars children under 16 from using platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube. That law has faced legal challenges from social media companies. There are also a couple of studies indicating that it doesn't quite work and that kids have been able to get on social media anyways.

In any event, France isn't the only European country investigating the idea of a social media ban for kids. Denmark looks to be extremely close to passing similar legislation and the UK has been mulling its own ban . On this side of the pond, Canadian regulators have introduced their own bill to ban social media for 16 and younger. A handful of American states have introduced legislation to curb the use of social media by kids , but they aren't outright bans and typically require parental consent.