“Once you’re, like, used to it, you just keep on using it,” she said.

Gabrielle added that she had no doubt that children would find ways around the restrictions and suggested the platforms should instead do more to filter out dangerous content.

For the countries looking into age restrictions, ensuring effective age verification is a major challenge.

“Bans alone won’t be enough,” French Education Minister Édouard Geffray told lawmakers in January. “We can’t just restrict, we have to educate and propose different ways of socializing.”

Katia Roux, of Amnesty International France, sounded a similar note on Tuesday. “The debate over banning social media for those under 15 is legitimate,” she told CNN. “However, this measure is not enough to make digital platforms safe. Only a shift in the business model of social media companies will truly protect all users. To begin with, the platforms’ addictive and manipulative features must be banned.”

Across OECD countries in 2022, at least half of 15-year-olds in most countries spent 30 hours or more per week on digital devices, including learning activities in or out of school.

Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said warned that “social media is not a toy,” in a statement calling for “age-appropriate restrictions.”

“In Europe, whoever develops a product is responsible for its safety. Car manufacturers must make their vehicles safe. We do not expect children to design their own seatbelts. We do not expect parents to fit airbags at home,” she wrote. “This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children.”

In France, some opposition lawmakers opposed the bill at an earlier stage over concerns about free speech and access to informative online content. Some senators had proposed a blacklist of certain social media platforms.

Teenager Nelya Ouali, whose mother does not permit her to have her own smartphone, said the law could impact her access to educational videos.

“We won’t be able to get more information as a result, because we don’t watch much television anymore,” she said, as she and her friends favor influencers’ videos. “But it’s still important for communication. Social networks are still important; they allow us to talk with our friends,” she said. “They allow us to be entertained, to take our minds off things.”

This is not the first time France has restricted access to online material. A ban on access to online pornography for minors overcame legal challenges to finally come into effect in 2025. It requires users to provide proof of age.

CNN’s Pierre Bairin, Elina Baudier Kim and Lisa Courbebaisse contributed reporting.

Sources: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/21/world/france-becomes-the-first-eu-country-to-ban-social-media-for-children