On July 21st, Parliament gave final approval to the bill introducing a minimum age for accessing social media in France. The legislation establishes the principle of a ban on social media for those under the age of 15. Platforms will now be required to verify the age of their users before they open or maintain an account, using a ‘double anonymity’ verification system. Users will have to prove their age to a trusted third party, which will issue a cryptographic token certifying only that they are of legal age in relation to the set threshold, without disclosing their identity to the platform. The implementation schedule is phased: from September 2026 for new accounts, then from January 2027 for existing accounts.
France Targets Online Anonymity Under the Guise of Child Protection
