Macron Requests EU Ban on Social Media for Under-15s
Emmanuel Macron has asked the European Commission to ban children under 15 from social media across the bloc, following France’s recent failure to implement a similar national ban.
On September 8, 2026, Reuters reported a letter sent by Macron to Ursula von der Leyen, dated August 29th, advocating for a new European legislative text to achieve this goal.
Macron argues that it is now essential to move forward with a "new European legislative text" to protect all children within the Union, rather than leaving such decisions to individual member states.
This request comes three weeks after France’s highest constitutional authority, the Conseil constitutionnel, struck down Macron’s attempt to ban under-15s from platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, X, Instagram, YouTube’s social features, WhatsApp, Messenger and some online games.
The Council determined that the French ban was an infringement that was not suitable, necessary, or proportionate to its intended objective.
Key issues leading to the strike down included:
- The scope of the ban being too broad, including services whose risk to minors had not been established.
- Insufficient privacy protections for users during age verification processes.
Macron intends to push forward with revised national legislation that complies with both EU law and the French constitution while also lobbying other governments ahead of von der Leyen’s State of the Union address on September 16th.
He references Australia’s successful under-16 social media ban as a potential model for the EU, though European politicians face significant complexities due to differing privacy regimes within the bloc.