French President Emmanuel Macron wants to ban access to social media for children under 16.

The president mentioned the Australian model, which for a week has banned social media for children under 16, and explained that the project in France is to have a verification system similar to the one in force in France since 2024 to prevent minors from accessing pornographic websites.

Speaking in Marseille on Tuesday, said the measure was justified because “the big platforms are not interested in co-operating” in checking content that can incite or cause certain mental problems in children.

Macron claimed that before the age of 16, the brain was not mature and children could risk being destabilised if exposed to content on social media, underlining the risks of depression, cyberbullying, sedentarism and sleep problems.

The French leader welcomed the fact that the EU has left it to each member country to decide the appropriate age for accessing social media.

The law to regulate the internet in France, passed in 2024, establishes an age verification system based on the issuance of a certificate of majority under the practice of “double anonymity,” designed to protect the privacy of users.

This system includes sending the user’s ID card or a photo later analysed by the AI to verify age.

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