Jessica Galissaire in TechPolicy.Press: "What France’s Under-15 Social Media Ban Means for Europe"

In this analysis in TechPolicy.Press, Jessica Galissaire (Senior Policy Researcher Digital Public Sphere) evaluated France's newly passed law restricting social media access for minors under 15, describing it as a largely symbolic measure that shifts the regulatory burden onto children and parents rather than holding tech platforms accountable. She noted that while the legislation succeeded in putting political pressure on the European Union to accelerate its own child safety initiatives, its lack of clear enforcement mechanisms and reliance on user-level obligations render it likely to be widely circumvented. Galissaire argued that effective policy must move away from unenforceable blanket age bans and instead focus on requiring platforms to eliminate inherently harmful design features, such as infinite scrolling and push notifications.