France will block social media access for children under 15 “within a few months” if the EU does not take coordinated action, French President Emmanuel Macron stated following a deadly knife attack at a local school.
“We must ban social media for those under 15,” Macron told the broadcaster France 2 on Tuesday.
Hours earlier, a 14-year-old student attacked a 31-year-old teaching assistant during a school bag check for weapons in Nogent in eastern France. He then injured a police officer with the same knife and was arrested at the scene, according to the National Gendarmerie.
“I’m giving us a few months to get the European mobilization going. Otherwise… we’ll start doing it in France. We can’t wait,” Macron said.
The student, described as well-behaved and with no prior issues, had participated in anti-bullying activities and came from a stable family. The victim, a mother of two, had reportedly worked at the school since September.
Macron said social media was one of the factors to blame for violence among young people as the incident was not an isolated case. In April, a high school student in western France fatally stabbed a girl and injured three boys before being arrested.
Writing on X after the interview, Macron said such regulation was backed by experts. “Platforms have the ability to verify age. Do it,” he wrote.
Earlier this year, 200 schools in France began piloting a “digital break,” barring students under 15 from using smartphones during school hours. The Education Ministry also stepped up school security, with random bag checks leading to 186 knife seizures in two months this spring.
Spain and Greece are also backing a plan to require age verification technology on all internet-connected devices. The proposal would make such verification mandatory for platforms such as Facebook and X.
The European Commission and several EU states are developing pilot programs to test age checks and parental controls. However, progress is being slowed by differing regulations across EU countries and the ease with which users can access social media platforms from outside the bloc.
In Russia, restrictions introduced in September ban students from using mobile phones in schools, allowing exceptions only in emergencies.
