The French Constitutional Council has rejected the ban on social networks for under 15s: it considers it a disproportionate limitation on the freedom of expression and communication of minors. The measure, approved by the French Parliament and intended to start from 1 September, will therefore not be able to come into force in the expected form.
The decision concerns article 1 of the law on the protection of minors from risks related to the use of social networks. The constitutional judges recognized the need to protect the best interests of minors, but considered the general ban not adequate, necessary and proportionate compared to the declared objective.
According to the Council, the rule would have included online communication services whose risks to the health and safety of minors have not been sufficiently established. The provision would also have effectively imposed an age check for access to social media even by adults, without defining sufficiently precise guarantees on the methods and limits of the control.
The law passed in July
The text was definitively approved by the National Assembly on 21 July, with 279 votes in favor and 81 against. The rule provided for the blocking of new accounts for those under 15 from 1 September and a transitional period of around four months for existing profiles, with the aim of leading to their suspension.
The platforms would have been responsible for adopting systems age verification compatible with French privacy legislation. Furthermore, the ban was supposed to concern the main social networks, while some educational services, online encyclopedias and platforms dedicated to the development and sharing of open source software would have been excluded. The measure was also part of a broader package of restrictions, which included a ban on the use of smartphones even in high schools.
The text will have to be rewritten
The censorship of the main article empties the law of its central measure and prevents the start of the generalized blockade scheduled for September. The decision does not eliminate the political objective of protecting minors from harmful content and addictive phenomena, but forces the French government to identify a less extensive and more precise instrument.
President Emmanuel Macron had supported the ban as a response to expert recommendations and public demands. After the ruling, the executive will have to review the text taking into account the findings on freedom of communication, age verification and the distinction between platforms with different levels of risk.
