Macron wants children's access to social networks to be banned as soon as possible: “Their brains cannot be manipulated, neither by American platforms nor by Chinese algorithms”

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to speed up the legislative process to ban children under the age of 15 from accessing social media, with the goal of coming into effect in September, according to AFP.

“We have asked the government to activate the accelerated procedure so that it can proceed as quickly as possible,” the French leader said in a video message broadcast by the BFM station.

He said he wanted the ban to be “applied from the beginning of the next school year”, in September.

The bill is due to be submitted to the French parliament on Monday, January 26.

President Macron said that in addition to banning children under 15 from accessing social media, he also supported a ban on the use of mobile phones in schools by students.

“The brains of our children and teenagers are not for sale or manipulation, either by American platforms or by Chinese algorithms,” he said.

Measures taken in other countries

In December, Australia became the first country in the world to ban access to social media by minors under the age of 16.

This week, Britain's technology secretary announced that the London government will launch a “fast-track three-month consultation on further measures to keep children safe online”, which will include the option of banning social media for children under 16.

“The consultation will also include a number of other options, such as whether there should be night restrictions, breaks to stop excessive use or doomscrolling, how we can ensure more rigorous enforcement of existing age verification laws and measures to address concerns about the use of VPNs to circumvent protections,” said minister Liz Kendall, quoted by Agerpres.