France's Constitutional Council overturns social media ban for minors

The French Constitutional Council has invalidated a planned ban on social media access for children under the age of 15. The ruling, issued in August 2026, struck down the measure just weeks before its scheduled implementation on September 1.

While the Council acknowledged the state's obligation to protect the welfare of minors, it determined that the proposed law constituted an “unproportionate interference” with freedom of expression and communication. The Council noted that the law lacked specific conditions for identity verification and applied too broadly to various online services without distinguishing between different levels of risk or the maturity of the users.

In response, President Emmanuel Macron has tasked Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornun with developing a legally viable version of the ban, with a target completion date of early 2027. This new draft is expected to align with European Union initiatives, such as the use of the EUDI Wallet for age verification. The European Commission had previously criticized the French proposal, warning against inconsistent national regulations across the EU.