A French parliamentary committee has urged a complete ban on social media use for children under 15, while recommending a nighttime “digital curfew” for teenagers aged 15 to 18. The call comes after months of testimony from families, social media executives, and influencers, highlighting growing concerns about the impact of online platforms on young users.
President Emmanuel Macron’s office has expressed support for limiting access for children and adolescents, following similar moves abroad, such as Australia’s plan to restrict social media for those under 16.
Committee chief Arthur Delaporte signaled further action, announcing plans to file a criminal complaint against the immensely popular short-video platform TikTok for “endangering the lives” of its users. The committee had been established in March specifically to examine TikTok and its psychological effects on minors, following a 2024 lawsuit by seven families who accused the platform of exposing children to content that encouraged suicidal behavior.
Laure Miller, lead writer of the committee’s report, described TikTok’s addictive design and algorithm as a model that “has been copied by other social media.” While TikTok emphasized that safeguarding young users is its “top priority,” Delaporte criticized the platform, saying, “There’s no question that the platform knows what is going wrong, that their algorithm is problematic, and there is a kind of active complicity in endangering users.”
One mother, Geraldine, recounted the tragic suicide of her 18-year-old daughter last year. She discovered that her daughter had posted and viewed videos promoting self-harm on TikTok. “TikTok didn’t kill our little girl, because she wasn’t well in any case,” Geraldine said. “But the platform’s moderation fell short, pushing her further into her dark impulses.”
Executives from TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, told the committee that the app uses AI-driven moderation, which last year flagged 98 percent of content violating its rules in France. However, lawmakers argued these measures are insufficient and that the platform’s guidelines are “very easy to circumvent.” Harmful content continues to spread, and TikTok’s algorithm can draw young users into loops that reinforce damaging material.
Delaporte also suggested that TikTok executives may have misled the committee about the app’s potential harms, citing internal files leaked to U.S. and French media. “When they claimed they didn’t know, that’s lying under oath,” he said.
The committee recommended that if social media platforms fail to comply with European regulations within the next three years, the ban on under-15 users could be extended to all minors under 18. The suggested “digital curfew” for teenagers would block access to social media between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., aiming to reduce exposure during vulnerable nighttime hours.
