Interdiction d'accès des mineurs de quinze ans aux réseaux sociaux, article 1er de la loi visant à protéger les mineurs des risques auxquels les expose l'utilisation des réseaux sociaux (Under-15 social media ban, article 1 of the law to protect minors from the risks posed by social media use), déclaré contraire à la Constitution

This provision does not bind anyone: it was struck before it could enter the statute book. Article 1 of the bill would have banned access to online social media platforms for minors under 15, by inserting a new section 3 bis (Protection des mineurs en ligne, Protection of minors online) and a new article 6-9 into the law of 21 June 2004.

After the Assemblée nationale and the Sénat agreed a joint text in a commission mixte paritaire (joint committee) on 1 April 2026, more than sixty deputies referred the law to the Conseil constitutionnel on 23 July 2026. In decision n° 2026-911 DC of 14 August 2026 the Conseil held article 1 contrary to the Constitution on two independent grounds.

First, because the ban reached every online platform letting end users connect, communicate, share content and discover other users, without regard to the individual minor's situation or to the risks specific to each service, it was not suitable, necessary or proportionate to the objective pursued, and so infringed the freedom of expression and communication under article 11 of the 1789 Declaration.

Second, because banning under-15s from those services meant that every user, adults included, would have to prove their age, and the legislature set no conditions or limits for that proof, it provided none of the legal guarantees that the right to respect for private life requires. The Conseil raised no question of its own motion about the law's other provisions and did not rule on them.

The remainder of the law was promulgated as Loi n° 2026-813 du 24 août 2026 and published in the Journal officiel (official gazette) on 25 August 2026; what those surviving articles require is not described here, because the Journal officiel text on Légifrance could not be read for this entry. France therefore has no minimum age for social media accounts, and the separate 2023 digital majority law remains without its implementing decree.