Emmanuel Macron has threatened to ban the use of social media for minors under 15 in France if the European Union doesn't do it. France, Spain, and Greece are precisely the promoters of an initiative to urge the EU to impose age verification mechanisms on social media, following the example of Australia, the first country to set a "digital age of majority" in December of last year.
The French President has thrown down the gauntlet to Brussels this week - "We can't wait any longer!" - following the shock caused in the country by the fatal stabbing of a guard by a 14-year-old in a school in the town of Nogent. Macron justifies the measure as part of a plan to combat juvenile violence, including the possibility of them being able to buy bladed weapons online.
"It's a recommendation from the Screen Commission experts," Macron wrote on his X account. "Prohibition of social media use for minors under 15. Platforms can verify age. Let's do it!". "I will give a few months to mobilize at the European level, or else I will negotiate with other countries and we will start doing it in France," he added.
"We take note of the announcement made by the French President," replied the spokesperson for technological sovereignty, Thomas Regnier. "But let's be clear because we have said it many times: the Commission will not implement a social media ban at the European level because it is a prerogative of the member states".
"We share the same concerns raised by the member states and parents," Regnier added. "We take them very seriously, especially after the recent events in France." The European Commission is working on a mobile app that will allow to demonstrate if users are of legal age (with a pilot program in which Spain participates).
The EU also plans to publish guidelines this summer for the protection of minors' privacy and security on digital platforms, but France, Spain, and Greece are pushing to go a step further (with the support of countries like Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Cyprus, Italy, Croatia, and The Netherlands).
The Spanish government is actually working on the future Organic Law for the Protection of Minors in Digital Environments, which plans to set the legal age at 16 years old. France and Greece propose, however, to lower it to 15 years old and create mechanisms like the "digital wallet" to verify users' age.
Since June 7th, pornographic platforms are required to use age verification mechanisms in France, leading to the boycott of the French market by sites like Pornhub, Youporn, or Redtube for refusing to comply with the regulations, while other portals have decided to follow the rules.