French Parliament's committee approves social media ban for under-15s

PARIS, July 20 - A reconciliation committee of France's Parliament agreed on a bill on Monday to ban access to social media for those under 15 years of age.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants the ban to be in force by the start of the school year in early September. France would follow Australia, which enacted the world's first ban for under-16s on platforms including Meta Platforms' Facebook, Snap's Snapchat, Bytedance's TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube in December.

• Macron has drummed up support for the ban in the European Union and elsewhere. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has recently supported limiting children's access to social media in the 27-country bloc.

• The reconciled text will be discussed on Tuesday in the Lower House and later in the Senate.

• The Information Technology minister will establish a list of the social networks banned for children and teenagers younger than 15 years old.

• Social media platforms will have to set up systems of age verification approved by the French privacy regulator.

• The bill would also ban the use of smartphones in high schools. REUTERS