Children under 15 in France should be completely banned from social media, while teenagers aged 15 to 18 should face a nighttime “digital curfew”, a French parliamentary committee has recommended. The push for restrictions on social media comes at a time when violent protests have hit Nepal, following a social media ban.
The proposals, released Thursday, come after months of hearings with families, influencers, and executives from leading platforms. Lawmakers said the measures are needed to protect minors from the addictive designs and harmful content that dominate social networks, reported news agency AFP.
President Emmanuel Macron’s office has already signalled support for such restrictions, following Australia’s move last year to draft a law banning social media for those under 16.
The French committee was originally formed in March to examine TikTok and its psychological impact on young users. The inquiry was prompted by a 2024 lawsuit in which seven families accused the platform of driving their children toward self-destructive behaviour.
Laure Miller, the committee’s lead rapporteur, said TikTok’s addictive algorithm has been widely copied by other platforms. While TikTok insists user safety is its “top priority”, lawmakers argued its moderation remains too easy to bypass and fails to stop harmful content from spreading.
The hearings also included emotional testimony. Géraldine, the mother of an 18-year-old who took her own life last year, told AFP that after her daughter’s death, she discovered videos of self-harm her child had both watched and posted on TikTok.
“TikTok didn’t kill our little girl, because she wasn’t well in any case,” said the 52-year-old mother, who withheld her surname. “But the platform failed in its moderation and only pulled her further into her dark impulses.”
TikTok executives, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, countered that their AI-driven moderation flagged 98% of policy violations in France last year. Lawmakers, however, found those safeguards inadequate, arguing that harmful content still thrives and the platform’s algorithm actively feeds it to vulnerable users.
The committee’s report went further, warning that if social networks fail to comply with European laws within three years, the under-15 ban could be extended to all minors under 18.
For now, it has recommended that teenagers between 15 and 18 be restricted from using social media between 10 pm and 8 am.
