Pressure has been rising since Australia's social media ban for under-16s entered into force, and Brussels is keeping a close eye on how successful it proves, with the ban already facing legal challenges.
France had been spearheading a months-long push for similar EU action alongside member states including Denmark, Greece and Spain -- before deciding to strike out on its own.
Its lower house of parliament this week passed a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s, which still needs Senate approval to become law.
At EU level, tough rules already regulate the digital space, with multiple probes ongoing into the impact on children of platforms including Instagram and TikTok.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has advocated going further with a minimum age limit, but first wants to hear from experts on what approach the 27-nation bloc should take.
- 'All doors open' -
Promised by the end of 2025, a consultative panel on social media use promised by von der Leyen is now expected to be set up "early" this year.
Its objective? To advise the president on what the EU's next steps should be to further protect children online, commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said.
"We're leaving all doors open. We will get feedback, and then we will take potential future decisions in this regard," Regnier said on Tuesday.
The European Parliament has already called for a social media ban on under-16s -- with Malaysia, Norway and New Zealand also planning similar restrictions.
France isn't alone in opting not to wait for EU-level action.
Denmark last year said it would ban access to social media for minors under 15.
Both countries are among five EU states currently testing an age-verification app they hope will prevent children accessing harmful content online.
Commission spokesman Regnier said that tool, which is to be rolled out by the end of the year, would be a way for Brussels to enforce compliance with whatever rules are adopted at national level, in France or elsewhere.
- EU vows to 'close cases' -
While the EU has yet to ban children from social media, its content law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) gives regulators the power to force companies to modify their platforms to better protect minors online.
For example, the DSA bans targeted advertising to children.
The EU can "use the DSA to impact the way that children interact with social media", Paul Oliver Richter, affiliate fellow at the Bruegel think tank said.
In February and May 2024 respectively, the EU launched probes into TikTok, and Meta's Facebook and Instagram, over fears the platforms may not be doing enough to address negative impacts on young people.
In both investigations, the EU expressed fears over the so-called "rabbit hole" effect -- which occurs when users are fed related content based on an algorithm, in some cases leading to more extreme content.
Nearly two years on, the EU has yet to wrap up the probes, although one official says regulators hope to deliver preliminary findings in the first half of the year.
EU spokesman Regnier has insisted "work is heavily ongoing".
Without referring to any specific probes, he said that "for certain investigations, we need more time", but added: "We will close these cases."
Teens underwhelmed by France's social media ban
Paris, France (AFP) Jan 27, 2026 -
Teens and tweens were split Tuesday over a looming ban on social media for under-15s in France, with some admitting the risks of overuse -- while others laughed off the measure and vowed to dodge it.
France's National Assembly passed a bill in a marathon overnight session that would impose a minimum age for using social media, becoming the first country in Europe to follow Australia, which banned under-16s from TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and other sites last year.
Parents keen to curb their kids' phone use cautiously welcomed the measure, which was championed by President Emmanuel Macron and must now pass the Senate.
The legislation's targets themselves were divided -- some acknowledging the dangers social media can bring, others venting their incomprehension and plotting ways to get around a ban.
Esther, a high school student in Paris, said the idea was "super" -- on paper.
"But the problem is, when (kids) turn 15, they're going to get submerged by this wave. That's the year you start high school, and you need to be focussing on other things besides social media. They should ban it for under-14s instead," she said.
And not all social networks are equal, she insisted.
"The ones where you scroll non-stop (should be banned), because that's what ruins your brain," she said. But other apps "are key for social life".
That view is shared by 11-year-old middle-schooler Aya, also from Paris.
"Social media makes some kids crazy, they stop doing anything else. And there are disgusting things on TikTok, it's not appropriate for kids," she said.
But "at the same time, it's important in an emergency. I use WhatsApp to talk to my parents. They're not going to ban WhatsApp, are they?"
WhatsApp and other private messaging platforms are not covered by the ban.
At a high school in Marseille, one 16-year-old said she had already imposed a ban on herself.
"I deleted TikTok, it was taking up too much of my time," she said.
"I couldn't get my homework done, my head was always somewhere else... Honestly, I think it's a great idea."
An August 2025 poll found 79 percent of parents and 67 percent of young people in France favoured a social media ban for under-15s.
Polling firm Odoxa found 46 percent of young people said they had felt low self-esteem comparing themselves to others on social networks, and 18 percent said they had been harassed or insulted online.
- Brother's ID -
Parents meanwhile questioned the feasibility of the ban, while some said more attention needed to be focussed on prevention.
A ban "is a start, but it's not enough", said Emmanuelle Poudreas, whose son Clement took his own life in 2024 at age 15 after being cyberbullied on WhatsApp.
"We need the state to mobilise at every level to prepare our young people to be digital citizens," she told AFP.
"How can we ban digital tools in middle and high schools when regional governments are financing those tools and they are being provided to students to use?"
National parents' federation PEEP raised similar concerns.
"There's this impression we've solved a problem. No. We've become aware of a problem, but we haven't fixed it," the organisation's president, Emmanuel Garot, told AFP.
He called for more education on the risks of social media and stricter regulation of tech companies and "their damned algorithms".
"Let's not fool ourselves, kids are inventive. They'll find ways to get around the ban soon enough -- VPN or other social networks we barely know about."
Ylies, a third-year middle-schooler in Paris who uses Snapchat and TikTok, already has a plan.
"What am I supposed to do? Stare at the wall?" he said.
"I'll just open a new account and say I was born in 2004. If they ask me for ID, I'll use my brother's or one of his friends'."
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