France strikes down social media ban for under-15s over privacy risks

France's Constitutional Council struck down a national ban on social media access for individuals under 15 years old on August 14. The council ruled that the law's age-verification mechanism would necessitate all users, adults and minors alike, to prove their age, thereby breaching the right to privacy. While acknowledging the goal of protecting children, the council rejected the proposed implementation of the law.

The decision contrasts with regulatory trends in India, where several states have introduced age-based restrictions and the central government is developing its own framework. These Indian initiatives rely on age-verification processes similar to the one France has deemed unworkable. The French law was faulted for being overly broad, restricting minors without considering individual circumstances or platform-specific risks, and for mandating universal age verification which infringes upon privacy.

Discussions hosted by Medianama have highlighted concerns regarding the effectiveness and potential unintended consequences of age-based bans. Experts have pointed out the technical challenges in implementing robust age verification and the risk of driving children to less regulated online spaces. The universal verification requirement, as seen in the French case, raises significant privacy concerns for the entire user population.

International evidence also suggests difficulties. In the UK, a significant percentage of children bypassed age checks, and VPN usage surged after the Online Safety Act took effect. Experts have noted that any technical age verification measure can be circumvented, and shared devices or family accounts complicate app-store-level checks. Facial recognition tools for age estimation are also deemed unreliable and raise privacy issues.