Emmanuel Macron, President of France, is banning social media for teens under 15. Should the rest of Europe follow?
June 20, 2025
Not sure how to feel about this.
14 comments
Social media companies are already asking users to scan their faces. This isn’t about protecting children.
15’s a little old, though I like the idea, I can see the effects it has on kids so make it say, 12, and I’m all for it.
I actually think it’s good, social media has become a whole other beast compared to what we had in the 2000s/10s, the algorithm
it’s way too aggressive now.
I also think it’s good to have a complete ban of cellphones in schools.
Yes, social media (and smartphones in general) are responsible for the increase in mental health issues in teenagers and also for the decline in academic performance.
In theory, yes. I think a symbolic law could be helpful, to show parents that social media is harmful to their children and to discourage companies and organisations from promoting social media to kids.
I do not, however, support any methods to effectively control this, since I don’t see how it can be done without massively violating everyone’s privacy. If you have to verify your age, this effectively means that both the government and the social media companies know exactly who you are and can track your entire online existence even more than they’re already doing.
Yes. Currently social media is the biggest spreader of misinformation. AI fakes, conspiracy theories, etc.
How do you prevent kids under 15 to open a social media account? Is it like “I’m over 15” popup or will they have to upload a personal document to verify their age?
No. This is not the way. By making Social Media contraband for the teens, it’ll be much harder to keep track of what they see and what they don’t. Take porn as an example, if you want to watch it, but you ain’t 18, just open an incognito account and you can find it without any problems. The exact same will be the case here, he may be able to ban legal accounts and registered accounts, but teens will be able to find a way to work around it.
Yes. Maybe set the limit @12, but let kids between 12 and 16 have only accounts where their guardian has access as well.
That’s why we’re seeing Meta ads on TV right now saying that responsibility must be placed on the Apple store. There’s no stopping Zuckie the new masculinist
It all began innocently enough.
The government said, “We need to create rules to protect children from social media.”
People agreed—after all, it sounded like a good thing.
Then, they said, “We need to verify users’ ages. Children should upload an ID to prove how old they are.”
Again, people agreed—it seemed like an effective way to keep kids safe online.
But after a strange terrorist attack, everything changed.
The government announced, “For public safety, we must extend ID verification to everyone.”
From that moment on, we handed over full control of our online lives.
They told us it was for our own safety.
Now, my neighbors are being questioned because they criticized the government online.
Spain has banned social media for teens under 14 for as long as I can remember. However, teens have this odd custom of just lying and claiming to be older than they actually are. So it’s a completely unenforceable measure, unless you start tying social media to non-anonymous accounts exclusively
No no no it’s not parents who should make this decision on an individual, personal basis… this is a job for BIG GOVERNMENT
Ban social media that breaks laws, data protection being the prime example. Would be healthier for all of us (because the current apps would ALL be banned).
14 comments
Social media companies are already asking users to scan their faces. This isn’t about protecting children.
15’s a little old, though I like the idea, I can see the effects it has on kids so make it say, 12, and I’m all for it.
I actually think it’s good, social media has become a whole other beast compared to what we had in the 2000s/10s, the algorithm
it’s way too aggressive now.
I also think it’s good to have a complete ban of cellphones in schools.
Yes, social media (and smartphones in general) are responsible for the increase in mental health issues in teenagers and also for the decline in academic performance.
https://jonathanhaidt.com/anxious-generation/
In theory, yes. I think a symbolic law could be helpful, to show parents that social media is harmful to their children and to discourage companies and organisations from promoting social media to kids.
I do not, however, support any methods to effectively control this, since I don’t see how it can be done without massively violating everyone’s privacy. If you have to verify your age, this effectively means that both the government and the social media companies know exactly who you are and can track your entire online existence even more than they’re already doing.
Yes. Currently social media is the biggest spreader of misinformation. AI fakes, conspiracy theories, etc.
How do you prevent kids under 15 to open a social media account? Is it like “I’m over 15” popup or will they have to upload a personal document to verify their age?
No. This is not the way. By making Social Media contraband for the teens, it’ll be much harder to keep track of what they see and what they don’t. Take porn as an example, if you want to watch it, but you ain’t 18, just open an incognito account and you can find it without any problems. The exact same will be the case here, he may be able to ban legal accounts and registered accounts, but teens will be able to find a way to work around it.
Yes. Maybe set the limit @12, but let kids between 12 and 16 have only accounts where their guardian has access as well.
That’s why we’re seeing Meta ads on TV right now saying that responsibility must be placed on the Apple store. There’s no stopping Zuckie the new masculinist
It all began innocently enough.
The government said, “We need to create rules to protect children from social media.”
People agreed—after all, it sounded like a good thing.
Then, they said, “We need to verify users’ ages. Children should upload an ID to prove how old they are.”
Again, people agreed—it seemed like an effective way to keep kids safe online.
But after a strange terrorist attack, everything changed.
The government announced, “For public safety, we must extend ID verification to everyone.”
From that moment on, we handed over full control of our online lives.
They told us it was for our own safety.
Now, my neighbors are being questioned because they criticized the government online.
Spain has banned social media for teens under 14 for as long as I can remember. However, teens have this odd custom of just lying and claiming to be older than they actually are. So it’s a completely unenforceable measure, unless you start tying social media to non-anonymous accounts exclusively
No no no it’s not parents who should make this decision on an individual, personal basis… this is a job for BIG GOVERNMENT
Ban social media that breaks laws, data protection being the prime example. Would be healthier for all of us (because the current apps would ALL be banned).