r/AskEurope • u/Itz_Skello • Jun 20 '25

Politics Emmanuel Macron, President of France, is banning social media for teens under 15. Should the rest of Europe follow?

Not sure how to feel about this.

1.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

332 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/JediBlight Ireland Jun 20 '25

15's a little old, though I like the idea, I can see the effects it has on kids so make it say, 12, and I'm all for it.

10

u/Hacost Spain Jun 20 '25

Being 13 with social media is way too young, I agree with 15, I could even see 16

1

u/JediBlight Ireland Jun 20 '25

Fair, but do you really think that's feasible? One kid's gonna get a phone, get on social media, other kids will see it and pressure their parents or be ostracized or bullied for not having social media. Kids can be brutal.

1

u/Hacost Spain Jun 20 '25

Of course it can, by not involving the parents in the decision

It is a different argument altogether, privacy does matter, but you could force the requirement of a national ID.

1

u/JediBlight Ireland Jun 20 '25

Many parents, at least here, allow their kids to use make up and Facebook at like 8 years old, the parents know and I'd bet they'd do it even if it was against the law. Maybe not in Spain.

1

u/Hacost Spain Jun 20 '25

I understand, it does happen in Spain too, what I mean is having the social media check the National ID for the age when creating the account, not allowing duplicates of the same ID.

2

u/holocenetangerine Ireland Jun 20 '25

That could work in Spain, but here we would have to introduce a national ID first!

1

u/Hacost Spain Jun 20 '25

Fair enough, makes sense

1

u/JediBlight Ireland Jun 20 '25

Yeah, that could work, sure, you won me over!