France has passed a law banning under-15s from social media, the first EU country to do so. New accounts face age checks from September 2026 and every existing account must verify age from January 2027, the same month the UK's under-16 ban takes effect, as Europe converges on age-restricted social media.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 22 July 2026
- France's Senate and National Assembly approved a law on 21 July 2026 banning under-15s from social media, making France the first European country to legislate a ban.
- The ban rolls out in two stages: from September 2026 under-15s cannot open new accounts and all new accounts need age verification, and from January 2027 every existing account in France must verify age.
- Platforms will have to use age-verification tools approved by CNIL, the French privacy regulator, and the requirement applies to all users, not only children.
- Australia introduced the world's first ban, for under-16s, in December 2025, but its eSafety Commission reported in March 2026 that 7 in 10 under-16s who previously had accounts still had some access.
- The UK announced its own under-16 social media ban in June 2026, taking effect from January 2027, alongside an optional midnight curfew for 16 and 17 year olds.
- The European Commission proposed a bloc-wide 'social media delay' for children in May 2026, with legislation expected to follow within months.
Social media age bans compared: Australia, France, the UK and the EU
| Australia | Under-16 | In force since December 2025 | First national ban; 7 in 10 under-16s retained some access (eSafety, March 2026) |
| France | Under-15 | Law passed 21 July 2026 | No new under-15 accounts from September 2026; all accounts age-verified from January 2027 |
| United Kingdom | Under-16 | Announced June 2026, from January 2027 | Optional midnight curfew for 16 and 17 year olds announced alongside the ban |
| European Union | Proposal stage | Proposed May 2026 | Commission 'social media delay' concept; legislation expected within months |
Source: National legislatures and regulators, compiled 22 July 2026
KEY FACTS
- France: under-15 ban approved 21 July 2026; no new under-15 accounts from September 2026; age verification on all existing accounts from January 2027
- Verification: platforms must use age-check tools approved by CNIL, France's privacy regulator, and every user in France will need to prove they are over 15
- Australia: under-16 ban in force since December 2025; eSafety Commission reported 7 in 10 previously active under-16s retained some access as of March 2026
- UK: under-16 ban announced June 2026, effective January 2027, with an optional midnight curfew for 16 and 17 year olds
- EU: Commission President proposed a 'social media delay' for children in May 2026, with draft legislation expected within months
What has France decided on social media for under-15s
France's parliament approved a law on 21 July 2026 banning under-15s from social media, implemented in two stages: no new under-15 accounts from September 2026, then mandatory age verification on every existing account from January 2027.
Both chambers of the French parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly, adopted the ban on 21 July 2026, delivering on a pledge President Emmanuel Macron made to introduce the measure before the end of his second term. The staged rollout matters for how the ban will work in practice. From September 2026, under-15s will be unable to open new social media accounts and every newly created account will require age verification at sign-up. From January 2027, the verification requirement extends to all existing accounts, meaning every social media user in France, adult or child, will need to prove they are over 15 to keep using the platforms. Platforms will be required to use age-verification tools approved by CNIL, the French data protection regulator, and the government has argued the tools already exist and can be deployed safely. Critics, including some on the left of French politics, raised concerns during the parliamentary process about privacy, the reliability of verification technology, the risk of young people bypassing the checks, and the speed at which the law was drafted and passed.
What does Australia's ban show about whether age bans work
Australia's under-16 ban, in force since December 2025, is the closest real-world test: its eSafety Commission reported in March 2026 that 7 in 10 under-16s who had accounts before the ban still had some access afterwards.
Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media in December 2025, and its experience is now the reference point for every government following behind. The headline finding is mixed. In March 2026, Australia's eSafety Commission reported that seven out of ten children under 16 who had a social media account before the ban still had some form of access afterwards, whether through accounts that were never closed, false ages, borrowed logins or workarounds such as VPNs. On a strict technical reading, that is a high leakage rate. At the same time, the Australian experiment demonstrated that a national ban can be legislated, implemented and enforced against platforms at all, which was widely doubted beforehand, and researchers studying the rollout have argued the more durable lesson is about design: bans imposed on young people without involving them tend to push activity underground, into less regulated spaces, rather than ending it. France's approach differs from Australia's in one important respect: by requiring every account in the country to verify age from January 2027, rather than relying on platforms to identify children, it closes the most common workaround while raising the privacy stakes for all users.
What is happening in the UK
The UK announced its own under-16 social media ban in June 2026, taking effect from January 2027, together with an optional midnight curfew for 16 and 17 year olds, building on the age-check regime the Online Safety Act already created.
The UK's ban was announced in June 2026 by then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and takes effect from January 2027, the same month France's full verification requirement begins. Alongside the under-16 ban, the government announced an optional midnight curfew that 16 and 17 year olds, or their parents, can apply to accounts. The UK measure does not arrive in a vacuum: the Online Safety Act 2023 already requires platforms to protect children from harmful content, and mandatory age checks for pornography and other high-harm services have been in force since July 2025 under Ofcom's codes, meaning the age-verification infrastructure the ban depends on is partly built. The practical questions for UK families mirror the French debate: which verification methods platforms will accept, what happens to the data used to prove age, and how consistently the rules will be enforced across services of very different sizes. A detailed guide to the UK ban, what it covers and what parents can expect is available in the related coverage linked below.
What is the EU planning
The European Commission proposed a bloc-wide 'social media delay' for children in May 2026, and has indicated draft legislation could follow within months, which would extend age restrictions across all 27 member states.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the concept of a 'social media delay' for children in May 2026, language that suggests a minimum age below which social media access would be postponed rather than a permanent prohibition. The Commission has said new legislation could be put forward within months. An EU measure would be the most consequential of all: rather than a patchwork of national bans at different ages, with France at 15 and other capitals debating 16, a single EU framework would set one standard across 27 countries and force platforms to build one compliance system rather than many. France's law is widely read as an attempt to set the template before Brussels legislates, in the same way its national digital rules have previously shaped EU-wide law. For platforms, the direction of travel across Europe is now consistent: age verification is moving from a niche requirement for adult content towards a default condition of access to mainstream social media, with the burden of proof shifting from regulators to the platforms themselves.
What this means for families and platforms from January 2027
From January 2027, both France and the UK will restrict social media by age, meaning tens of millions of users will verify their age for the first time, and the biggest open questions are privacy, enforcement and where under-age users go next.
January 2027 is shaping up as the pivotal month for social media regulation in Europe: France's universal age-verification requirement and the UK's under-16 ban both take effect, and the EU's own proposal may be law or close to it by then. For families, the practical change is that age checks will stop being something that only affects children: in France every user must verify, and in the UK platforms will need robust enough checks to distinguish a 15 year old from a 16 year old, which weak self-declared birthdates cannot do. The trade-offs are real on both sides. Verification systems typically rely on official ID, facial age estimation or bank and phone records, each raising its own privacy and data security questions, and regulators in both countries will approve specific tools rather than leaving the method to platforms. Australia's experience suggests enforcement will be imperfect and that some young people will migrate to smaller, less regulated services, which is the risk researchers flag most consistently. What is no longer in doubt is the direction: within 18 months, age-restricted social media has moved from a single-country experiment to the emerging default across the Western world.
RELATED GUIDES
DISCLAIMER
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Implementation dates and requirements are subject to secondary legislation and regulator guidance in each country and may change before taking effect.
Frequently asked questions
When does France's social media ban start
In two stages. From September 2026, under-15s cannot open new accounts and all new accounts require age verification. From January 2027, every existing social media account in France must verify the user's age.
Who has to verify their age under the French law
Everyone. From January 2027 the age-verification requirement applies to all existing accounts, so every social media user in France, including adults, will need to prove they are over 15 using tools approved by CNIL, the French privacy regulator.
Did Australia's social media ban work
Partially. The under-16 ban has been in force since December 2025, but Australia's eSafety Commission reported in March 2026 that 7 in 10 under-16s who previously had accounts retained some access, through false ages, borrowed logins or workarounds.
When does the UK's under-16 social media ban start
The UK ban takes effect from January 2027, following the announcement in June 2026. An optional midnight curfew for 16 and 17 year olds was announced alongside it, and it builds on age-check duties already in force under the Online Safety Act 2023.
Will the EU ban social media for children
The European Commission proposed a 'social media delay' for children in May 2026 and has said legislation could follow within months. If adopted, an EU-wide framework would set a single age standard across all 27 member states.
SOURCES
- Online Safety Act 2023, legislation.gov.uk – accessed 22 July 2026
- Senat, French parliament upper chamber – accessed 22 July 2026
- eSafety Commissioner, Australian Government – accessed 22 July 2026
