France and the UK are debating social media bans for under-15s and under-16s, following Australia’s lead, amid fierce debate over mental health impacts
PARIS: France and Britain are considering following Australia’s lead by banning children and some teenagers from using social media.
The move comes amid a fierce debate among experts over the effectiveness of such a ban in tackling deteriorating youth mental health.
Australia last month became the first nation to prohibit people under 16 from using platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
France is currently debating bills for a similar ban for under-15s, including one championed by President Emmanuel Macron.
The Guardian reported that American psychologist Jonathan Haidt, a supporter of the Australian ban, had been asked to speak to UK government officials.
Haidt argued in his bestselling 2024 book that too much screen time was rewiring children’s brains and “causing an epidemic of mental illness”.
His book has proven controversial in academic circles, with Canadian psychologist Candice Odgers writing that the “scary story” was “not supported by science”.
One main area of disagreement is determining exactly how much effect using social media has on young people’s mental health.
Michael Noetel, a researcher at the University of Queensland, told AFP there is “plenty of evidence” that social media does harm to teens.
“My read is that Haidt is more right than his harshest critics admit, and less right than his book implies,” Noetel said.
Given the potential benefit, he considered a ban “a bet worth making”.
France’s public health watchdog ANSES ruled last week that social media had numerous detrimental effects for adolescents, particularly girls.
Other researchers are wary of a blanket ban.
Ben Singh from the University of Adelaide tracked more than 100,000 young Australians over three years for a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The study found the young people with the worst wellbeing were those who used social media heavily or not at all.
“The findings suggest that both excessive restriction and excessive use can be problematic,” Singh told AFP.
French psychiatrist Serge Tisseron warned that “social media is appallingly toxic”.
But he feared a ban would easily be overcome by tech-savvy teens, while absolving parents of responsibility.
Another option could be to wait and see how the Australian experiment pans out.
“Within a year, we should know much more about how effective the Australian social media ban has been,” said Cambridge University researcher Amy Orben.
Last week, Australia’s online safety watchdog said tech companies have already blocked 4.7 million accounts for under 16s.
