Macron made the appeal in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dated August 29, arguing that a common European approach was needed to protect children across the 27-member bloc.

“I believe it has now become essential to go further,” Macron wrote, calling for new European legislation to harmonise a ban on social media access for children under 15.

France had planned to introduce its national restrictions in September, but the Constitutional Council struck down the legislation this summer, ruling that the measure disproportionately interfered with freedom of expression.

Macron has now turned his attention to an EU-wide approach, making restrictions on children’s access to social media a major priority during the final year of his presidency.

Several European countries are considering tighter controls as concerns grow over the effects of social media on children’s mental health and online safety. However, some governments, particularly in Scandinavia, believe decisions about children’s social media use should remain primarily with parents.

Macron said France would also seek to rewrite its rejected legislation, although political divisions in parliament and difficult budget negotiations could make it challenging to pass a new national law.

The European Commission has already indicated that it intends to address children’s access to social media across the bloc.

Von der Leyen said in July that the EU would move towards limiting young children’s access to social media, following recommendations from two experts that proposed a gradual, age-based system.

Under that approach, children below 13 could receive only limited and supervised access, with restrictions gradually easing as they become older.

Macron is pushing for a stricter policy, calling for a blanket ban until the age of 15.

His proposal comes as governments around the world debate how best to protect children online while balancing concerns about privacy, freedom of expression and the practical challenges of enforcing age restrictions.

Australia introduced a landmark social media ban for children last year, providing a model that several governments are now examining as they consider their own regulations.

Macron is seeking support from other EU governments ahead of von der Leyen’s State of the Union address to the European Parliament later this month, potentially setting up a wider European debate over the future of children’s access to social media.

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A parliamentary reconciliation committee approved the bill on Monday after lawmakers from both chambers agreed on a final version of the legislation.

President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants the ban to take effect before the start of the new school year in early September.

If enacted, France would become one of the first countries in Europe to introduce a nationwide social media ban for children under 15, following Australia’s landmark legislation restricting access for users under 16.

The proposed law would empower the Information Technology Minister to determine which social media platforms are covered by the ban.

Companies operating those platforms would be required to implement age verification systems approved by France’s data protection authority to prevent underage users from accessing their services.

The agreed text is scheduled to be debated in the National Assembly on Tuesday before moving to the Senate for final approval.

In addition to the social media restrictions, the legislation would prohibit the use of smartphones in French high schools as part of broader efforts to reduce digital distractions among students.

The proposal comes amid growing support across Europe for stronger protections for children online. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also backed measures aimed at limiting minors’ access to social media platforms across the European Union.

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The initiative will begin with systems operated by the government’s digital agency, DINUM, although authorities have not provided a timeline or specified which Linux distributions will be adopted.

French official David Amiel said the move is aimed at strengthening digital sovereignty and ensuring greater control over national data and infrastructure.

The transition reflects a broader push within Europe to reduce dependence on major U.S. technology firms, including Microsoft, amid geopolitical tensions and concerns over data control.

The decision follows earlier measures by the French government, including replacing Microsoft Teams with a locally developed video conferencing platform based on open-source technology.

Authorities also plan to migrate national health data systems to a domestically controlled platform later this year.

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The law, passed by France’s National Assembly on Monday, is among the toughest measures in Europe aimed at regulating minors’ use of social media. It places increased responsibility on platforms to enforce age verification and restrict access for underage users.

Authorities are expected to provide further details on how the ban will be implemented and enforced as the legislation moves toward full adoption.

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Earlier this week, Grok posted an apology on X acknowledging that on December 28, 2025, it generated and shared an AI image of two young girls in sexualised clothing based on a user prompt. The statement said the incident violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on child sexual abuse material, adding that xAI was reviewing its safeguards.

The apology has drawn criticism from commentators, who argue that accountability cannot meaningfully be assigned to an AI system itself. Investigations by technology outlets also found that Grok has been used to generate non-consensual pornographic images and depictions of sexual violence.

In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered X to restrict Grok from generating content that is obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit or otherwise prohibited under law, warning that the platform could lose its legal safe-harbour protections if it failed to comply within 72 hours.

French authorities said prosecutors are investigating the spread of sexually explicit deepfakes on X, after three government ministers reported what they described as “manifestly illegal content” to both prosecutors and regulators.

Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission said it is investigating complaints over the misuse of AI tools on X to create indecent and harmful content involving women and minors.

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President Emmanuel Macron’s government is expected to submit draft legislation for legal review in early January, Le Monde and France Info reported. Macron has repeatedly cited social media as a contributing factor to youth violence and online harm.

France would follow Australia, which introduced a world-first ban on social media access for under-16s in December. Macron has previously called for similar restrictions to be adopted across the European Union.

Mobile phones have been banned in French primary and middle schools since 2018. The proposed changes would extend the restriction to high schools, where students are typically aged 15 to 18.

France also passed a law in 2023 requiring parental consent for children under 15 to create social media accounts, although enforcement has been hindered by technical challenges.

In June, Macron said he would push for EU-wide action after a fatal school stabbing shocked the country. In November, the European Parliament urged member states to set minimum age limits for social media use to address rising mental health concerns among adolescents.

Opinion polls suggest strong public backing for tougher measures. A 2024 Harris Interactive survey found that 73% of respondents supported a ban on social media access for under-15s.

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Durov, who is under judicial supervision in France following his 2024 arrest at a Paris airport, made the allegation on Sunday as Moldova held a parliamentary election that could shape the country’s European Union ambitions.

He claimed that French intelligence approached him while he was in Paris, asking him to take down several channels for the Moldovan government. While he said he removed some channels that violated Telegram’s rules, Durov described the offer as “unacceptable.”

“If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process. If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe,” Durov said.

The French foreign ministry dismissed his remarks, noting that Durov had made similar accusations about France interfering in Romanian politics earlier this year. At the time, France’s foreign intelligence agency, DGSE, denied his claims.

Durov, who founded Telegram after leaving Russia in 2014 for refusing to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte platform, has consistently denied wrongdoing. Telegram, with more than one billion monthly active users, is widely used across former Soviet states, including Russia and Ukraine.

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The new initiative, called Blueprint-ICT-Dev, was officially launched in Abuja and aims to upgrade ICT infrastructure, modernize e-learning platforms, and build the digital skills of both students and faculty.

The funding will cover state-of-the-art computer labs, high-speed campus internet, smart classrooms, and specialized training programs to prepare students for a rapidly evolving digital economy.

Speaking at the launch, NUC Executive Secretary Prof. Chris Maiyaki emphasized that the program aligns with Nigeria’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), which targets widespread digital literacy and innovation-driven growth.

“This partnership goes beyond hardware — it’s about developing our students’ capacity to compete globally,” Maiyaki said.

The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, described the collaboration as a testament to France’s commitment to strengthening educational and technological ties with Nigeria.

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TECHDIGEST – France slapped TikTok with 5 million euros ($5.4 million) for online tracking shortcomings.

A spokesperson for TikTok confirmed the fine in a statement on Friday.

The more widely used smartphone applications for the service were not included in the French data protection authority CNIL’s investigation, which primarily focused on the website tiktok.com.

The fine is coming barely after Seattle’s public school district filed a lawsuit against the major social media companies—TikTok and others.

READ ALSO: 2023 Polls: NITDA cautions journalists against fake news

“These findings relate to past practices that we addressed last year, including making it easier to reject non-essential cookies and providing additional information about the purposes of certain cookies,” a spokesperson for TikTok said.

The ByteDance-owned company is also in turmoil as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr recently proposed the outright ban of Chinese-owned social media in the U.S.

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