Prohibit Social Media for under 15, says the French report warning of Tiktok dangers

French children under the age of 15 should be banned by social media and should have “digital hours” overnight for 15-18 years, a parliamentary committee recommended.

The six -month investigation into Tiktok’s psychological effects on minors has found that the short video sharing platform “deliberately exposes our children, our young people to toxic, dangerous and addictive content.”

“We need to force Tiktok to rethink your model“says the committee, which listened to the testimony of teenagers and families of young victims.

Tiktok replied, saying that he categorically rejected “the misleading characteristic of our platform” of the Commission, which seeks to “buy our company for challenges throughout the industry and society”.

“Tiktok has an ongoing stable confidence and safety program with more than 70 features and settings designed specifically to support the safety and well -being of teenagers and families on our platform,” said a spokesman in a message.

However, the company’s measures failed to impress the French investigative Cross -party Committee, which describes Tiktok as one of the oldest social media platforms -a “Disaster Production Line” for young people. He claims that Tiktok has not been able to take enough action to reduce teenagers who are exposed to a “spiral of harmful content”.

French parliamentary investigation recommendations come hard on the heels of Australian Prohibition on Social Media for Children under 16 which comes into force on December 10. “Social Media Platforms Limited by Age” such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube will face steep fines if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to a bar under 16 years of account holding.

Initially, the French investigation was created after a group of families accused the Ticktock of exposing their children to content, which can lead them to take their own lives. He hears indications from children as well as from parents.

“The content she was looking at was deadly … Prioritization of songs that advocated suicide as a liberation,” said a mother whose daughter took her life in 2021.

Another woman named Martin said she saw her daughter Lilo, who took her life at the age of 14, watching videos of people talking about depression and worse.

“At no point, she was exposed to content that could inspire her to live,” Martin told Francenfo. “She was glued to videos that suggested death as a solution.”

Among the 43 recommendations of the French investigation team aimed at removing French children “Out of Tiktok’s trap” are:

• Prohibition in social media for under 15
• No use of applications overnight from 22: 00-08: 00 to prevent scrolling overnight
• Prohibition of mobile phones at school
• And in the coming years, a crime of digital negligence for parents who fail to protect their children.

The leading investigation, author Lore Miller, explained that the idea of ​​a crime for the parents of digital negligence is really a simple continuation of the existing law.

“If a six -year -old child spends seven hours a day in front of Tittok, we can ask ourselves the question:” Are their safety and morals really protected by their parents? “She told reporters.

France is among several EU countries that insist on limiting the use of social media for children. Denmark is also considering a ban on social media for under 15 years, and the Spanish government has sent a draft law under 16 in parliament to request its legal guardians to allow access.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that he watched the Australian law carefully and would commission a group of experts to report by the end of 2025 about the “best approach for Europe”.

In response to the recommendations of the French request, Tiktok said he had already introduced a 60-minute screen limit for under 18 years of age, and also encouraged under 16 to exclude his application after 22:00.

The chairman of the investigation, Arthur Delaport, said he had decided to claim that Tittok intentionally “threatened the life” of his prosecutor’s users in Paris and the prosecutor’s office must decide on the next step.

Delaporte was also asked to examine the death of the French influential Jean Pormanov, who was lived live last month on a kick on the platform.

The National Assembly is considering how to regulate the digital sector and the way content is revenue.