The French Constitutional Council rejected this Friday the authoritarian bill promoted by Emmanuel Macron that established the prohibition of access to social networks for minors under 15 years old.
The highest body responsible for verifying the constitutionality of laws considered that the initiative disproportionately violated the freedom of expression of minors and that it also did not offer sufficient guarantees to protect their privacy.
The body, made up of nine members, specifically questioned article 1 of the project. According to its resolution, the provision “constitutes an infringement that is neither appropriate, nor necessary, nor proportionate” to the freedom of expression of minors.
The ruling also stated that the questioned provisions “disproportionately violate” that right and emphasized that the legislation did not include “the necessary legal guarantees to ensure respect for privacy”.
One of the main points observed by the Constitutional Council was the mechanism proposed to verify the age of users. The project established that all individuals must prove their age to access certain online services, but it did not specify under what conditions or with what limits that information should be provided.
The project had already been approved by Parliament
The legislation had been approved by French lawmakers in July and was set to take effect on September 1. The authoritarian initiative stipulated that no minor under 15 years old could open an account on digital platforms.
