The French National Assembly prohibits social networks for minors under 15 years of age and the use of mobile phones in schools

After a long debatewhich lasted until after midnight, the French deputies gave the green light to this initiative with 130 votes in favor compared to 21 against.

This project, presented through an emergency procedure, will now have to go through the Senate so that comes into force as of next September 1, before the start of the next academic year.

During the debates, the pro-government deputy Laure Miller, uOne of the promoters of the bill justified the need for the ban “because “You cannot let a child have to manage something addictive (the networks) alone.”

Miller cited the algorithms that lead minors to content of suicidal and self-mutilation tendencies and put the emphasis on TikTok.

“It promised to encourage creativity and joy and the opposite has happened“said the parliamentarian, who asserted that scientific studies show that, Because of the networks, minors “sleep less, move less, read less and compare themselves more” among themselves.

Among the interventions, the one of the Minister of Education of France, Edouard Geffray, who welcomed the restriction on mobile phones planned in institutes, after the ban decreed in 2018 in secondary (between 12 and 16 years old), primary and preschool.

“This measure has had positive effects, both in the school environment and in learning,” said Geffray, who regretted that a large part of young people “spend more time weekly watching screens than during school hours.”

Before voting on the project, the deputies defeated a motion to reject the text presented by the main left-wing party, The Rebellious Francewho criticized this prohibition for being “inapplicable” and “do not change anything.”

“Do you know how easy it is to avoid it? In Australia, it is enough for someone who looks over 18 to submit to facial recognition in the minor’s place. Or for the minor to put on makeup to look older,” said MP Louis Boyard, 25.

A measure promoted by Macron

The initiative responds to a legislative acceleration ordered by the French president, Emmanuel Macronwith a proposal that he already launched several months ago and that he wants to be adopted as soon as possible in Parliament to protect minors.

“Because our children’s brains are not for sale. Neither to American platforms nor to Chinese networks. Because your dreams cannot be dictated by algorithms. Because we do not want an anxious generation, but a generation that believes in France, the Republic and its values,” said the president, celebrating this first legislative step on social network X.

With only two articles, the future norm aims to establish “clear” regulations on the use of mobile phones and social networks for those under 15 years of age, according to Macron in a video sent the day before to the television network. BFMTV.

Macron has made this measure one of his star proposals in a mandate blocked by the lack of majority in the National Assembly and hopes to obtain consensus from various political groups.

“The brains of our children and our adolescents are not for sale. The emotions of our minors and our adolescents are not sold or manipulated, neither by American platforms nor by Chinese algorithms,” said the president.

The French Executive relies on health reports that reveal psychological damage that social networks can cause in minors.

Social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are seriously harming the mental health of teenagersaccording to a report published earlier this year by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Labor Safety (ANSES).

The ANSES warned about the constant comparison and exposure to violent content of minors on networks, as well as systems that capture attention and disturb sleep, without forgetting cyberbullying.

The law must also be in accordance with the digital services regulation of the European Union, so as not to suffer the same fate as that of 2023, which sought to establish the digital majority in 15 years but was not applied because it went against that regulation.