Ban on social networks for under 15s: the parental puzzle

One afternoon during the Christmas holidays, Corinne wants to have snack with her daughter, locked in her room. But instead of launching the traditional “To taaaable!” » or go knock on her door, the fifty-year-old grabs her phone, opens the Snapchat application and calls Lisa.

“I got the hang of teenagers! », laughs the woman who wondered, a few years ago, what she was going to be able to do with this social network popular with young people for her instant photos. “You’ll see, it’s fun,” her daughters, 8 and 13 years old at the time, encouraged her to stay in touch with their newly divorced mother. In this group renamed “The Three Musketeers”, they were able to maintain a bond by sending each other selfies.

A mode of communication which should become impossible: access to social networks for those under 15 could in fact be prohibited from next September.

The subject promises to be one of the major social debates of 2026, once parliamentarians have overcome the budgetary impasse. Emmanuel Macron must present his bill to the Council of Ministers in the week of January 19. An initiative which took his camp by surprise, while a bill tabled under the leadership of Gabriel Attal must be discussed in the hemicycle around ten days later.

If everyone tries to take credit for this reform, it is because 73% of French people say they are in favor of it, aware of the dangers of social networks: exposure to inappropriate content, risks of cyberharassment, harmful effects on the quality of sleep. Today, almost a quarter of children have already used a social network before the age of 10. If the law passes, Arcom, the digital policeman, should ensure that platforms control the age of users. But in practice, the vigilance and goodwill of parents will remain essential.

Discipline and supervision

“Children also see their parents constantly scrolling through images on their social networks. We will have to set an example,” recalls Olivier Gérard, coordinator of the Media and digital uses division at Unaf (National Union of Family Associations). Géraldine, forty-year-old and mother of twins Antoine and Manon, imposes a certain discipline on herself: use her phone only when they are in bed or… in the toilet.

This special educator is holding on. Despite their repeated requests, her 12-year-old children do not have a telephone. Every evening, between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., the family gathers on the couch to watch a series. But as soon as Géraldine’s cell phone vibrates, the children rush to check if the notification is intended for them. Because the mother made some concessions, such as lending her cell phone to allow them to communicate on WhatsApp with their friends.

Last summer, she caught her daughter installing Instagram on her grandmother’s cell phone. “It is certain that if this restriction passes, it will help me a lot. But I won’t have the energy to fight for WhatsApp, especially if I can monitor conversations. » Faced with the strike force of social networks, parents are giving up.

The example of Australia

Another difficulty lies in defining the platforms concerned. YouTube, for example, mixes educational materials and violent content. Roblox, a telephone video game very popular among children under 13, allows you to communicate online, but adults with ill intentions can contact children. It is not yet clear whether these platforms will be classified as social networks and therefore subject to the ban. Betty, mother of a 14-year-old teenager in the south of France, says she is helpless: “I try to offer alternatives by bringing his friends over to the house. But they play together on Roblox…”

This parental helplessness is echoed abroad. In Australia, social networks have been banned for under 16s since last December. A life-size laboratory, the first feedback from which calls for caution.

Because Australian teenagers were quick to circumvent the law: using a VPN (software allowing you to connect to the network of a foreign country), theft of the digital identity of an adult relative, or even the use of artificial intelligence to generate false faces capable of deceiving age verification devices. Stratagems sometimes used under the benevolent, even complicit, gaze of their parents.

If this example can be discouraging in France, it is above all a reminder that no law can entirely replace parental vigilance in the face of the dangers of social networks.