Protection of republican values, authority, secularism, budgetary seriousness and... screen time. Alongside broad political topics, French President Emmanuel Macron brought up the issue of young people's relationship with digital media, and more specifically children and teenagers' access to smartphones, at a lengthy press conference on Wednesday, June 12. "Screen addiction is the breeding ground for all kinds of difficulties: Harassment, violence, dropping out of school," declared the president, who said he wanted to introduce a ban on cell phones for children "before the age of 11" and on social media "before the age of 15."

The proposal may come as a surprise given the forthcoming parliamentary elections, but it's nothing new. The subject has been of personal interest to Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron for years and, in 2023, the government already pushed through a law banning children under 15 from signing up for social media without a parent's agreement.

But the implementation of the decrees, essential for the measure's application, have yet to be published. The European Commission has protested: In August, Commissioner Thierry Breton took the view that the French government was deciding on policies that should fall within the remit of the European Union. The establishment of a "Europe of digital majority at 15" was also included in the proposal of Macron's Renaissance party during the European election campaign.

It was the first time, however, that Macron spoke of a ban on phones for children under 11, even if it corresponds to proposals already mooted by experts and anti-screen activists. The summary report by a group of experts set up at the request of the French president, and which submitted its conclusions at the end of April, notably advised against entrusting a smartphone to children under this age. It also proposed allowing phones without Internet access between the ages of 11 and 13, and giving access to social media only from the age of 15.

However, the report focused mainly on the consequences of screen time in terms of sleep, sedentary lifestyles and weight. Without denying the role played by social media and messaging apps in school bullying, the text pointed out that "digital experiences alone can never explain serious acts of violence," and above all recommended increased "vigilance."

Beyond the strictly legal issues, and the pre-eminence of European law on these matters, these measures raise questions as to how they might be applied. On the face of it, the ban on social media is the simplest to implement, at least formally. All social media platforms already prohibit the creation of accounts for under-13s in their rules. These restrictions are not always respected, however, and controls are difficult unless much more coercive and politically sensitive measures are imposed in parallel for users, such as the obligation to provide ID when registering.

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