France is engaged on a social media ban for below 15s | EUROtoday

For 52-year-old psychotherapist Gaëlle, there isn’t any doubt: France wants this regulation – urgently. Her daughter – let’s name her Clara – bought her first cellular phone when she was twelve, Gaëlle tells a press convention organized by the Algos Victima group.

“The condition was that we parents monitor usage and that the WiFi was switched off at 9 p.m. in the evening. She was also very busy with school and her extracurricular activities; she only used her cell phone for a maximum of an hour a day.”

Depression, suicide try and anorexia

Clara grew to become depressed. This was adopted by a suicide try, extreme anorexia and hospital stays. She solely realized late that social networks had one thing to do with how unhealthy Clara was feeling, says her mom Gaëlle.

“I remember with horror that I left my child alone. With the anorexia, at some point she no longer had the strength to go to school. I left her cell phone because I thought it was her only way to communicate with her friends. We couldn’t protect her – at a time when she was already feeling bad because the spiral had already started.”

Lawsuit in opposition to TikTookay

Gaëlle lastly comes throughout an article from the USA a couple of lawsuit in opposition to TikTookay – and during which dad and mom report about the identical hell that she and Clara went by way of. Gaëlle joins the group Algos Victima, based by the lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion. She had already filed her first lawsuit in opposition to TikTookay in 2023 – together with for incitement to suicide.

“The story of Algos Victima is above all the story of Marie, who took her own life in 2021,” says Boutron-Marmion. “Her parents and I quickly realized that there was a problem with TikTok when we saw the videos that Marie had shared and liked. The lawsuit received widespread media coverage – and as a result, numerous parents from all over France contacted me or the girl’s mother to tell what had happened to them.”

Macron: “Our children’s brains are not for sale”

Before an investigative committee of the French Parliament, representatives of TikTookay France assured that they’d work on “assessing and mitigating the systemic risks”. TikTookay and Co. might quickly be fully banned in France for younger folks below the age of 15 – a undertaking that President Emmanuel Macron has been pushing ahead for a very long time.

“The brains of our children and young people are not for sale,” says Macron. Their feelings shouldn’t be monetized or manipulated – neither by American platforms nor by Chinese algorithms. “I have asked the government to initiate the accelerated legislative process.” Macron mentioned this in a video message on the weekend.

Debate about draft regulation

The French National Assembly has now authorised a corresponding invoice with a big majority – launched by MP Laure Miller. This invoice, which has since been up to date by the federal government, stipulates that entry to on-line social networks offered by on-line platforms needs to be prohibited for younger folks below 15 years of age. Educational platforms ought to due to this fact not be topic to the ban. It now goes to the Senate for additional dialogue earlier than a closing vote within the decrease home.

Miller’s authentic draft model prompt that the French media regulator ARCOM ought to create a particular checklist of social media platforms whose entry to these below 15 could be blocked. From the federal government’s perspective, this feature would have been too advanced and impractical.

Lawyer: Ban is important

The lawyer Boutron-Marmion from the group Algos Victima believes that the social media ban for younger folks below 15 is important. Pure regulation is just not sufficient, Boutron-Marmion informed the ARD-Studio Paris. Since the European Digital Services Act, platforms have been obliged to strictly test their content material, says Boutron-Marmion. “Nevertheless, we find that in most cases they either do not respond at all or their attempts at regulation are still in their infancy.”

This EU regulation – the so-called Digital Services Act, or DSA for brief – has beforehand given member states little scope for age restrictions on social media. Last summer time, the EU Commission printed tips for the safety of minors inside the DSA, thereby opening the door for nationwide rules. However, the query stays as to how the age of customers needs to be verified. To date, there isn’t any mechanism that ensures efficient age verification and knowledge safety on the identical time. An answer to that is being labored on at EU stage.

For psychotherapist Gaëlle, the French legislative initiative continues to be necessary. This first step is important as an emblem alone, says Gaëlle. To present that France desires to guard its youth.