France moves a step closer to banning under-15s from social media

This article was published on July 21, 2026 A cross-party committee has agreed a compromise text, but the bill still has to clear both chambers and a Brussels waiting period before it becomes law. French lawmakers gave the bill its final parliamentary approval on Tuesday, with the National Assembly adopting the compromise text the joint committee had agreed a day earlier. Under French procedure the Assembly has the last word, and the vote turns a measure that had been stuck between the two chambers into law in all but its final formalities. The agreed text drops the Senate’s idea of a blacklist of harmful services with parental consent for the rest, which lawmakers judged likely to clash with EU law, in favour of a blanket ban on social networks for under-15s. New accounts would be barred from 1 September, with a roughly four-month grace period for existing ones, and the phone ban already in place in schools and colleges would extend to high schools. Gabriel Attal, who leads the Ensemble group, called the vote “an immense victory”. What is left is less about votes than about plumbing and courts. Left-wing groups have signalled they may ask the Constitutional Council to weigh the ba