French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will move to ban social media access for children under 15 within months if such action is not adopted at the European level, following the fatal stabbing of a school staff member by a 14-year-old student.
President Emmanuel Macron stated on Tuesday that France will implement a ban on social media for children under the age of 15 in the coming months if this is not enacted across Europe. Macron made the remarks during an interview with public television channel France 2.
“We must ban social media for those under 15,” Macron said. “I'm giving us a few months to get the European mobilisation going. Otherwise...we'll start doing it in France. We can't wait.”
The announcement followed an incident in which a school staff member was fatally stabbed by a 14-year-old student during a routine bag check at a secondary school in Nogent, eastern France. The teenager was arrested at the scene.
A police officer assisting with the bag checks received minor injuries while apprehending the suspect, who used the same knife in both attacks, according to the National Gendarmerie.
It is not immediately clear whether the attack was linked to anything the student had seen on social media or why local media suggested such a connection.
