France's Constitutional Council Strikes Down Social Media Ban for Under-15s

France's Constitutional Council has struck down a law that would have banned children under the age of 15 from using social media. The court ruled on 14 August that the ban was unconstitutional, primarily because the required age-verification mechanisms would force all users, including adults, to prove their age, which violates the right to privacy. The Council also found the ban too broad, noting that it did not consider individual circumstances or the specific risks of different platforms, and that some affected online services have not been proven to harm young people.

The ruling comes as other nations pursue similar goals. Australia passed an under-16 ban in December 2025, though reports suggest approximately 80 percent of children there continue to use their accounts. In India, several states including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have announced age-based bans, while the central government is preparing a graded framework for different age brackets. Critics of these measures argue that age verification is technically difficult to implement without circumvention and often defaults to identity checks for the entire population.

Perspectives on the ruling vary based on political framing. A center-leaning perspective emphasizes the privacy risks and technical failures of age verification, framing the court's decision as a necessary protection of civil liberties. Conversely, a center-right perspective frames the decision as a failure to protect children, suggesting that the court's focus on freedom effectively protects the business models of platforms like TikTok and Instagram while leaving the masses open to manipulation.