MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Today, the French Parliament votes on a law to ban children under the age of 15 from social media. The measure is meant to shield underage people from cyber harassment, harmful and inappropriate content, and to help curb excessive screen time. If the measure passes, France would become the second country, after Australia, to put a social media age ban in place. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: In a video posted this weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron did not mince words. The message is simple, he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: (Through interpreter) Our children's and teenagers' brains are not for sale. The emotions of our children and adolescents are not for sale or to be manipulated, neither by American social media platforms nor Chinese algorithms.
BEARDSLEY: Last month, Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media entirely, saying it was time to take back control from powerful technology companies. As expected, the move has been criticized by the likes of YouTube and Meta. A second component of the French law would ban cell phones in high schools, starting next fall. They've already been banned in middle schools since 2018. Burgundy school director Aude Pascal (ph) says it's changed everything.
AUDE PASCAL: (Through interpreter) The kids put their phones in special lockers. They concentrate better in class, and it's changed the relationship between them. There's no more secret photo-taking and less harassment, and the parents are thrilled.
BEARDSLEY: Macron has made protecting minors online a priority for his government. In 2023, France tried to enact a similar law, requiring users to be at least 15 to register on social media platforms. But the measure was blocked after conflicting with EU digital privacy laws. A French study showed 1 in 2 teenagers spends between two and five hours a day on a smartphone. And 90% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 use them daily to access the internet, with 58% on social networks.
A French parliamentary commission investigating the psychological effects of TikTok actually went further than the current law, recommending a digital curfew for 15- to 18-year-olds by blocking their internet access from 10 p.m. until 8 a.m., though that is not part of the current measure. The current law is expected to pass overwhelmingly. This time, French lawmakers wrote it in a way to avoid running into problems with EU digital privacy as they attempt to keep young people off of social media platforms.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
