
France's parliament has passed a law to ban social media for people under 15 from January 2027, making it the first European country to block young people from platforms.
The law means everyone in France must verify their age to access social media and comes at a time when the UK and EU are developing their borders in response to concerns about children's mental health.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the move, which he had pledged to introduce to mark the end of his decade in office.
While skeptics have questioned the law's viability, the government has insisted that online tools to put age checks in place are effective and secure.
Both the French Senate and the National Assembly approved the ban on Tuesday, despite criticism from some leftists.
From September, people under 15 will not be able to open accounts and age verification will be required for all new accounts.
In January 2027, this rule will apply to all existing accounts, meaning everyone in France will have to prove they are over 15 years old to use social media.
Once the ban comes into effect, social media platforms will have to use age verification tools approved by the French privacy regulator.
But concerns have been raised about privacy, the effectiveness of age verification tools, the risks of them being bypassed by young people and the speed with which the ban was drafted and implemented, Agence France Presse reports.
France is the second country to introduce a ban, after Australia. Despite Australia banning under-16s from accessing social media in December, it is widely acknowledged that many of them continue to use the platforms.
In March, the Australian Electronic Safety Commission reported that seven out of 10 children under 16 who had a social media account before the ban still had "some access".
Legislation restricting young people's access to social media has spread rapidly across Europe in recent months.
In June, former British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that under-16s in the UK would be banned from using social media from January 2027. An optional midnight curfew for UK teenagers aged 16 and 17 was also announced.
In May, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a “social media delay” for children in Europe and said new legislation could be presented within months.