France’s Constitutional Council (Conseil constitutionnel) ruled on 14 August 2026 that Article 1 of a law restricting under-15s’ access to social-network services was unconstitutional. The decision, No. 2026-911 DC, did not reject child-protection rules in general: it found this blanket restriction insufficiently tailored to risk and lacking adequate privacy safeguards for age checks. The restriction was excluded from the law as promulgated on 24 August; other school-related provisions remained.
What the Constitutional Council decided
The Conseil constitutionnel reviewed Article 1 after referrals from deputies and declared it contrary to the Constitution. The article would have restricted every child under 15 from accessing services that fell within the law’s definition of social networks. The decision is specific to that provision; it is not a ruling that all social-media age limits are unconstitutional.
The enacted text, Law No. 2026-813, records the decision and marks Article 1 as nonconforming. The under-15 prohibition therefore did not take effect in the promulgated law. Read Law No. 2026-813 on Légifrance and the official decision No. 2026-911 DC.
Why the under-15 ban failed
It covered services without regard to their risks
The Council accepted that the law pursued legitimate aims: protecting children’s best interests and preventing harms associated with social-network features, including addiction, isolation, exposure to pornography, harassment and fraud. But the restriction applied without assessing a service’s functions, content, specific risks to minors or safeguards. It could therefore reach services for which risks had not been established.
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It treated all children and family circumstances alike
The rule applied to every child under 15 without regard to maturity, family circumstances or the particular service. It also provided no route for parents or legal representatives to authorize access to selected services in a child’s interest. The Council concluded that the resulting interference with communication freedom was not adapted, necessary or proportionate to the stated aims.
Its analysis began with Article 11 of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Council said freedom of communication encompasses access to public online communication services and expression through them, given their role in modern communication and democratic participation. Lawmakers may restrict that freedom to address abuses affecting public order or others’ rights, but limits must be necessary, adapted and proportionate.
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The law did not adequately protect privacy in age proof
A ban on minors implied that every user, adults included, would need to prove their age. The law did not set conditions or limits for that proof, and the Council found the privacy safeguards inadequate. This was a defect in the safeguards provided by this law—not a finding that every possible age-verification method is inherently unconstitutional.
What remains in the law
The ruling did not erase the rest of Law No. 2026-813. The promulgated law retains school provisions, including awareness of the effects of unmoderated screen exposure and social-network addictiveness in school projects, as well as an extension of mobile-phone restrictions to high schools. Each school’s internal rules are to establish how the restriction and its exceptions apply, consistently with its educational project.
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Le Monde reported on 27 August 2026 that schools still had practical work to do: internal rules needed amendment and school-board votes to specify where phones could be used and what disciplinary measures would apply. Some principals expected implementation to be gradual. That was contemporaneous reporting on the rollout, not a definitive account of every school’s later arrangements.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the ruling means—and what it does not
The decision leaves room for lawmakers to pursue child protection through measures that meet constitutional requirements. It does not itself prescribe a replacement policy, settle what safeguards a future age-check system must contain, or decide whether a narrower restriction tied to demonstrated service risks would pass review. The Council also did not examine other objections once it had found Article 1 unconstitutional, and it stated that it had not ruled on provisions other than those examined.
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On 14 August, President Emmanuel Macron said he had instructed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to work quickly on a legally robust proposal that accounted for the ruling and the European legal framework. He said the President, Government and Parliament would determine the means of protecting children online. That was the administration’s stated next step on the decision date; it does not establish that a replacement measure was later introduced or enacted. Associated Press coverage of the decision and Macron’s response.
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