President Emmanuel Macron announced the new draft on September 14, saying the government had completed additional technical work and notified the European Commission to ensure the proposal complies with EU law.
The previous legislation, approved by France’s Parliament in July, was struck down in mid-August after the Constitutional Council found that the blanket restriction infringed disproportionately on the freedom of expression and communication of minors.
Macron has continued to push for an under-15 ban and wants a new law in place before the end of his presidency next year. The revised proposal reportedly takes a different approach by identifying around 10 platform features considered harmful or potentially addictive for younger users.
These include automatic video playback, nighttime notification feeds and communication with unknown accounts, according to a French government source cited by AFP. Macron said he hopes the French approach can become a standard for children across Europe.
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The French initiative comes as the European Union prepares its own proposals on children’s access to social media. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to address the issue during her State of the Union speech this week, with the Commission preparing an EU-wide framework for protecting children online.
The debate has gained momentum across Europe. Several countries are considering or advancing restrictions on social media access for minors. France’s first attempt also faced questions over privacy and the legal basis for age verification. The Constitutional Council’s August ruling found that the original measure was too broad and insufficiently proportionate, particularly because it applied across social networks and to all users under 15.
The French government is now seeking to avoid those legal obstacles while maintaining its goal of restricting younger children’s access to social media. Macron has also urged EU countries to adopt a common approach rather than relying solely on national rules. The European Commission’s forthcoming proposal could therefore determine whether France’s revised plan becomes a national measure or helps shape a common European standard for children’s social media access.
