French President, Emmanuel Macron, has supported the proposed legislation that seeks to ban children under the age of 11 from using smartphones and children under 15 from using social media. 

According to reports, the proposed ban was disclosed in a report published by a panel of experts commissioned by the Elysee Palace earlier this year amid increasing concern over the negative effects of technology and social media use on children and teenagers. 

Daily Mails reported that the President made the issue a priority in his presidential agenda at the start of the year.  

Meanwhile, there is no word on how such a proposed ban would be implemented in the country. 

It was gathered that the country’s lawmakers are set to decide which apps will be banned and work out modalities of bringing the recommended measures to bear.  

The expert panel, which was spearheaded by neurologist Servane Mouton and psychiatry professor Amine Benyamina, and also included education, law and technology experts, presented its findings to Macron in April.

It recommended that every child under the age of 11 must not be allowed to use a smartphone, and must not be given a smartphone with internet access before age 13.

The panel added that social media apps should be forbidden for anyone under 15 and minors over 15 should only be able to access platforms deemed ‘ethical.’ The report however did not specify which platforms would be removed from such restrictions. 

Currently, there is no timeline for new legislation and it remains unclear the extent it would follow the experts’ recommendations. 

The group revealed any future moves should focus on strengthening rules for tech companies. 

The way the ban would be implemented remains unclear as commentators are divided on whether app makers and tech companies would be forced to activate age restriction features in their applications, or whether parents would bear responsibility for enforcing the ban at home.  

Tools for limiting screentime and runtime on social media applications have already been built into most smartphones, but these limits can be altered by the user at any time.