{"id":54674,"date":"2026-07-21T17:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/54674\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:21:19","slug":"france-set-to-pass-eus-first-ban-on-social-media-for-under-15s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/54674\/","title":{"rendered":"France Set to Pass EU’s First Ban on Social Media for Under-15s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s ESG Updates<\/p>\n

France Set To Ban Social Media for Under-15s: France is on track to pass the EU\u2019s first ban on social media for under-15s, requiring platforms to verify users\u2019 ages.
\nPope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal Announced: Villanova University has created a new international honor, named for Pope Leo XIV, to recognize leadership in sustainability.
\nMeta Faces New Instagram Addiction Trial: Meta goes to trial in Tennessee over claims Instagram was designed to be intentionally addictive for teens.
\nCommission Endorses Latvia\u2019s Social Climate Plan:\u00a0The EU approved Latvia\u2019s \u20ac617 million plan to help vulnerable households and transport users manage the clean energy transition.<\/p>\n

France set to pass EU\u2019s first ban on social media for under-15s<\/p>\n

France could soon become the first EU country to ban social media for kids under 15. It\u2019s taken months to get here, with lawmakers in the National Assembly and Senate haggling over the fine print before settling on a final draft. The rule itself is fairly simple: platforms will have to check users\u2019 ages before letting anyone in, and Paris wants this running by September 2026.<\/p>\n

Not everyone\u2019s fully on board yet. Brussels has already warned that parts of the bill might clash with the EU\u2019s Digital Services Act, so French lawmakers went back and tweaked a few provisions to smooth things over. Even so, if this ban actually goes through, it won\u2019t just be a French story. Other EU countries could follow suit, and that\u2019s bad news for Meta, TikTok, and anyone else who\u2019ll suddenly need to rebuild how they verify who\u2019s using their apps.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Further reading:\u00a0 France set to ban social media for under-15s, a first in the EU<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Featured ESG Tool of the Week:
\nKlimado<\/a> \u2013 Navigating climate complexity just got easier. Klimado offers a user-friendly platform for tracking local and global environmental shifts, making it an essential tool for climate-aware individuals and organizations.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pope Leo XIV on his visit to Lebanon. Photo Credit:\u00a0Christian Harb<\/a>
\nVatican honors sustainability leadership with new Pope Leo XIV Medal<\/p>\n

Villanova University has introduced a new honor: the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal. The award recognizes leadership in sustainability and what the university describes as \u201cintegral human development.\u201d It will make its debut at Villanova\u2019s October 2026 conference, held in Rome and Castel Gandolfo, with the first recipient to be announced in September.<\/p>\n

The name honors Pope Leo XIV\u2019s steady focus on environmental governance since taking office. A cause he treats as a moral duty, continuing the climate advocacy his predecessor championed. According to organizers, the medal is meant to do more than symbolize good intentions. It\u2019s designed to highlight individuals and institutions making measurable progress on sustainable development around the world.<\/p>\n

***
Further reading: Pope Leo XIV to present Sustainability Medal named in his honor<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Articles<\/p>\n

Here is a list of articles selected by our Editorial Board that have gained significant interest from the public:<\/p>\n

\"\"A group of men standing in front of a court in Nashville, TN, USA; Photo Credit: Ambrose Prince<\/a>\u00a0
\nMeta faces new trial over claims Instagram was designed to be addictive for teens<\/p>\n

Meta heads to trial in Tennessee this week, facing claims that Instagram was built, on purpose, to hook kids and teens. It\u2019s the kind of allegation that puts youth mental health right back in the spotlight. This isn\u2019t the company\u2019s first time in this position, either: a similar case in New Mexico wrapped up earlier this year with a $375 million verdict against Meta.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the lawsuit is a familiar argument. Plaintiffs say Meta knew exactly what it was doing when it built features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations, engineering them to keep minors engaged even as the company understood the potential harm. Add this trial to a growing pile of legal and regulatory pressure on tech companies over child safety, arriving just as France pushes its own plan to keep kids under 15 off social media altogether.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Further reading: Meta faces another trial over claims Instagram was intentionally addictive for kids<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AerialAerial view of Riga, Latvia on a cloudy day. Photo Credit: Martti Salmi<\/a>\u00a0
\nCommission endorses Latvia\u2019s \u20ac617 million Social Climate Plan<\/p>\n

The European Commission just gave Latvia\u2019s Social Climate Plan the green light, making it the third national plan approved under the EU\u2019s new Social Climate Fund. The plan leans on carbon pricing revenue to mobilize \u20ac617 million through 2032, money aimed at helping 17,000 vulnerable households stuck in energy-inefficient homes, plus 453,000 people who rely on transport support.<\/p>\n

Households can get up to \u20ac15,000 for apartment renovations, or \u20ac20,000 if they own a house, and new energy advisory hubs will be on hand to help people figure out how to cut their energy costs. There\u2019s more built in too: funding for electric vehicle purchases, mobility devices for people with reduced mobility, and free bike-sharing programs across 97 schools. All told, Latvia expects the plan to shave off 45,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2032.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Further reading: Commission endorses Latvia\u2019s \u20ac617 million Social Climate Plan<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com \u2014\u00a0 In the Cover Photo: Teenagers using their smartphones Cover Photo Credit: ROBIN WORRALL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s ESG Updates France Set To Ban Social Media for Under-15s: France is on track to pass the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2134,430,5,1196,6978],"class_list":["post-54674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-esg","tag-european-union","tag-france","tag-social-media-ban","tag-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}