Former French prime minister and presidential candidate Gabriel Attal has called for a national referendum on banning social media for under-15s, after the Constitutional Council ruled on August 14 that the measure disproportionately restricted freedom of expression.
In a post on X and an opinion piece for La Tribune Dimanche, published on August 16, Attal said he respected the court’s decision but insisted on the urgency of protecting children.
“I am calling for a referendum to protect our children,” he wrote. “[On August 14], the Constitutional Council censored the law banning social networks for those under 15. I respect this decision, but there is urgency. Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people fall into the grip of social media addiction. The French have not been consulted directly for 21 years. Let us give them the floor.”
He said that “the defining political divide of our time sets democrats, who see the rule of law as a protection that shields each of us from arbitrary power, against those who, won over by authoritarian temptation, see in each decision of the Constitutional Council an opportunity to challenge our institutions.”
According to Attal, “Children are delivered to algorithms that nourish their discomfort, install in them the hate of their own image, expose them to harassment and lead them too often to depression. About 19,000 teenage girls are hospitalised each year for self-inflicted injuries.“
“The rate of hospitalisation in psychiatry for self-inflicted injuries of girls aged 10 to 19 has quadrupled in 10 years. It is also a democratic emergency. The powers that are hostile to us use social media to interfere in our democratic life because they know they will find a vulnerable and malleable youth. It’s no coincidence: this is what I call a cognitive weapon.”
Je demande un référendum pour protéger nos enfants.
Hier, le Conseil constitutionnel a censuré la loi sur l’interdiction des réseaux sociaux aux moins de 15 ans.
Je respecte cette décision, mais il y a urgence.
Car le temps presse : chaque année, des centaines de milliers…
— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) August 15, 2026
The Constitutional Council found that Article 1 of the law, adopted by parliament on July 21, constituted “an infringement that is neither appropriate, necessary, nor proportionate” to the freedom of expression and communication of under-15s.
The court, petitioned in late July by Socialist and La France Insoumise deputies, said the ban was wide enough to catch services whose risks to minors had not been established. It also criticised the age-verification requirements for failing to provide adequate legal safeguards for the right to privacy.
The legislation, a flagship measure supported by President Emmanuel Macron, would have prevented under-15s from opening new social media accounts from September and required platforms to close existing ones within months. It was tabled by Laure Miller, a deputy for the Ensemble pour la République group.
France had been set to become the first European country to bring such a ban into force, following Australia’s under-16 restrictions, which took effect on December 10, 2025 and expose platforms to fines of up to A$50 million (€28 million). Denmark and Austria have agreed similar measures but have yet to apply them.
Macron immediately instructed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to prepare a revised draft that addresses the council’s concerns, with the aim of implementing a reform by spring 2027. Anne Le Hénanff, minister delegate for digital affairs, said the text would go through parliament over the coming months.
Attal, who had strongly backed the original law, argued that a referendum would allow action without the delays of a full new legislative process, which he estimated could take more than a year.
He contended that a child-protection measure of this kind falls under the nation’s social policy and could therefore be put to a referendum under Article 11 of the Constitution.
Socialist deputy Arthur Delaporte accused Attal of proposing an unconstitutional law and then seeking a referendum to work around the court that struck it down. Constitutional scholar Benjamin Morel said it was contradictory to condemn National Rally calls for an immigration referendum as illiberal while urging the same route.
The ruling does not affect other parts of the broader legislation, including a planned ban on mobile phones in upper secondary schools from September. Phones have been barred in French lower secondary schools since 2018.
The episode forms part of a wider and often tense French debate over the boundaries of free speech online.
In August 2024, French authorities arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov at Paris-Le Bourget airport and placed him under formal investigation over the alleged failure to curb illegal content, including child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, on the platform. His travel restrictions were lifted in November 2025 and the inquiry continues.
Thierry Breton, European commissioner for the internal market from 2019 to 2024 and the architect of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), repeatedly pressed platforms to remove content under the regulation. In December 2025 the United States barred him from entry over what Washington described as censorship of American platforms.
Separately, the Élysée has urged Brussels to broaden the definition of “disinformation” in DSA guidelines, particularly in the run-up to the 2027 presidential election, framing the move as necessary protection against foreign interference. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dated March 16 this year, Macron called for the guidelines drawn up before the 2024 European elections to be updated.
