Macron says he’ll ban social media for under-15s in France – POLITICO

He additionally introduced that age verification will quickly be imposed in France on websites promoting knives on-line, just like measures that at present apply to pornographic websites.

“A 15-year-old will not be capable to purchase a knife on-line. Which means we will impose large monetary sanctions and bans,” he promised. Earlier, Prime Minister François Bayrou had introduced he needed to shortly take steps to ban the sale of “all knives” to minors.

Later within the night, posting on X, Macron stated: “I am banning social media for youngsters beneath 15. Platforms have the flexibility to confirm age. Let’s do it.”

French authorities are already progressing with efforts to power sure social media websites — including X, Reddit, Bluesky and Mastodon — to introduce age verification, by classifying them as pornographic web sites.

French measures forcing porn websites to confirm their customers’ ages came into effect on June 7, prompting the world’s largest porn web site, Pornhub, to cease working in France. Demand for digital non-public community providers, which permit customers to trick web sites into pondering they’re in a special location, immediately surged.