Social Media Ban For Kids Approved in France in First For an EU Country

France’s Parliament passed a law Tuesday that will ban children under the age of 15 from accessing social media, according to a new report from France24. Australia and Indonesia have similar laws for kids under 16, but France is the first member of the European Union to pass such legislation. The National Assembly passed the law with 279 votes to 81, though it still needs to be reviewed by the Constitutional Council, which ensures that any law passed in the country is constitutional before it’s implemented. Assuming it passes that test, the law will be enforced in two phases. Starting Sept. 1, anyone under 15 in France will be banned from creating a new social media account. Then on Jan. 1, 2027, anyone under 15 with active social media accounts will have them deleted. President Emmanuel Macron, who leaves office next year, was a big advocate of the law and celebrated its passage on Tuesday. He said the legislation was needed to protect kids, making the pronouncement in a video that kids will no longer be able to legally view by 2027. “France is leading the way in Europe when it comes to protecting our children and teenagers,” Macron said, according to an English language translati