French lawmakers have backed a bill banning social media for children under 15 in what one legislator likened to a “battle for free minds.”

The bill, which also bans mobile phones in high schools, passed late Monday by a 130–21 vote. The bill will now head to the Senate for discussion before a final vote.

“With this law, we are setting a clear boundary in society and saying social media is not harmless,” French lawmaker Laure Miller told the assembly.

“Our children are reading less, sleeping less and comparing themselves to one another more,” she continued. “This is a battle for free minds.”

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Macron has pushed lawmakers to fast-track the legislation so that the ban could be in place in time for the start of the next academic year in September.

“Banning social media for those under 15: this is what scientists recommend, and this is what the French people are overwhelmingly calling for,” Macron said after the vote. “Because our children’s brains are not for sale — neither to American platforms nor to Chinese networks. Because their dreams must not be dictated by algorithms.”

The idea of setting a minimum age for use of the platforms has gained momentum across Europe.

The vote comes days after the British government said it is considering similar restrictions as it tightens rules to protect children from harmful online content and excessive screen time.

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Australia introduced a world-first ban on social media for children under 16 years old in December, restricting access to platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

France’s health watchdog reports that one in two teenagers spends between two and five hours a day on a smartphone. A December report found that about 90% of children ages 12 to 17 use smartphones daily to access the internet, with 58% using them for social media.

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The agency warned of links between heavy social media use and reduced self-esteem, as well as increased exposure to content tied to risky behaviors, including self-harm, drug use and suicide.

Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Existing differences of opinion about digital rules in the European Union and the United States should not be a source of confrontation, but should be treated in a respectful way, the Executive Vice President of the EU Commission, Henna Virkkunen, said on Euronews’ flagship programme The Europe Conversation.

“When we speak about democracies like the European Union and the USA, I think democratic countries and friends, we can handle those kinds of differences in our rules with respect,” urged Virkkunen, whose portfolio in the Commission includes Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.

“Europeans are very committed to our rules because we want to make sure that we have a fair and safe democratic environment, also when it comes to the digital environment,” Virkkunen added.

Her comments came as the row over the controversial AI chatbot Grok between Brussels and Elon Musk’s social media platform X escalated.

On Monday, the European Commission launched a formal investigation into Grok, after the outcry at the platform’s failure to prevent the creation of sexually explicit images of real people, including children, without their consent.

If X is found to have breached EU online platform rules under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission could fine the company up to 6% of its global annual turnover.

“We are now collecting evidence from the X and Grok side,” Virkkunen said.

The US government has repeatedly cast EU action to rein in US tech giants as “discriminatory” and “unjustified” attempts to censor American viewpoints.

In December, the Trump administration denied visas to a former EU Commissioner, Thierry Breton and to other Europeans who were instrumental in EU efforts to counter hate speech and disinformation online.

When US tech companies are doing business in Europe, they have to follow the rules – but so do Asian or European companies, Virkkunen noted.

France’s under-15s social media ban

Asked whether she supports a social media ban for young teenagers as promoted in France, she avoided taking sides.

Instead, she stressed the necessity of having appropriate age verification tools in place to enforce such bans.

“Some very small kids, they already have their own social media accounts. And now the member states are discussing what the right age really is for that,” Virkkunen said.

“We are focusing our investigations now so that online platforms are really taking the responsibility that a high level of safety, security, and privacy is ensured for our minors, because it’s our obligation,” she added.

On Monday, France’s National Assembly backed a bill that would ban children and teenagers under the age of 15 from social media.

The law could come into force by next September if approved by the Senate.

“Our children and teens’ brains are not for sale,” the French President said. “Our children and teens’ emotions are not for sale, or to be manipulated – not by American platforms nor Chinese algorithms.”

The French legislation is part of a wave of measures being discussed across Europe, following Australia’s enforcement of the world’s strictest social media rules for children under 16 last year.

Denmark also wants to block access to social media for anyone under-15s, with potential, parental-approved, exceptions for 13- to 14-year-olds – a move that could potentially become law by mid-2026.

An Iranian amateur boxer was shot and killed by Iranian security forces during ongoing anti-regime protests near Tehran, and his father spent a week searching before identifying his body in a black body bag.

Harrowing footage circulating online shows his distraught father desperately searching among piles of bodies covered with black body bags, crying out for his missing son.

Sepehr Ebrahimi, 19, was killed on Jan. 11 in the Andisheh area, approximately 19 miles west of Tehran’s city center, according to Iranian opposition sources.

“Sepehr was shot and killed in Tehran,” Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital.

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Video shared on social media, which was viewed by Fox News Digital, shows Ebrahimi’s father calling out his son’s name as he searches a warehouse filled with unidentified bodies following a violent crackdown on demonstrators.

“My dear Sepehr, where are you?” the father can be heard crying. At one point, he shouts, “Damn Khamenei. They have killed the children of so many people. You killed so many young people!”

According to Safavi, Ebrahimi was shot with live ammunition by Iran’s security forces during protests against the clerical regime.

His family spent an agonizing week searching through morgues, hospitals and detention facilities before finally identifying his body among piles of corpses, also shown in the viral footage.

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The killing comes amid ongoing demonstrations across Iran, as anger continues to simmer over political repression, economic hardship and human rights abuses.

Ebrahimi’s death has also renewed attention on the case of another Iranian boxer, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, who is on death row.

Vafaei Sani, now 30, is a champion boxer who was arrested in 2020 for participating in nationwide pro-democracy protests.

Iranian authorities accused him of supporting the opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).

He has spent five years in prison, during which he has reportedly been tortured and held in prolonged solitary confinement, according to rights organizations.

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In 2023, more than 100 human rights experts and international organizations sent a letter to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, urging urgent intervention to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution.

His death sentence echoes the case of Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was executed in September 2020.

Meanwhile, the death of Ebrahimi and others come as Iran’s protest-related death toll continues to rise.

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 6,126 people have been killed since the start of the latest wave of protests.

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HRANA also reported that 214 government-affiliated forces and 49 civilians have also been killed, while more than 17,000 deaths remain under investigation.