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Associated Press report on French under-15 social media ban

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This Associated Press dispatch, published by Fortune on 21 July 2026, covers the French Parliament’s adoption that day of a bill banning children under 15 from social media. The saved copy records the vote, its political context, and the open implementation questions.

Both chambers approved the bill, a flagship initiative of Emmanuel Macron’s second term, which also bans mobile phones in high schools. Macron wants the law in force for the September 2026 school year, but a constitutional review is likely and could delay implementation. The ban exempts online encyclopedias and educational or scientific directories. Lawmakers amended the text in final negotiations after the European Commission found the earlier version overlapped with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

The article quotes parent campaigners who see no other way to counter the platforms, the left-wing France Unbowed party’s objection that the bill is unconstitutional, unenforceable, and ends online anonymity, and e-Enfance legal advisor Ines Legendre, who identifies the unresolved mechanics: identifying and suspending existing under-15 accounts and verifying age for every new account. It also cites France’s health watchdog: 90% of 12- to 17-year-olds use smartphones daily, 58% of them for social networking, and half of teenagers spend two to five hours a day on a phone, with reported effects including reduced self-esteem and exposure to content associated with self-harm and suicide. Several French families have sued TikTok over teen suicides they attribute to harmful content.

As a same-day wire report, the dispatch establishes the vote and its stated rationale but not the law’s final text, its constitutionality, or any effect. The entity it documents is French social media ban for under-15s.

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