Politics
France Becomes the First in Europe to Ban Social Media for Under-15s, and Japan Argues Whether to Follow
France's Senate and National Assembly passed a bill banning children under 15 from using social media, set to take effect in September after constitutional review — a first in Europe. President Macron framed it as delivering on a promise to protect children online. In Japan, the reaction split three ways: a camp that wants Japan to copy the ban to curb addiction, bullying and criminal recruitment; a camp doubting it can be enforced given how easily age checks are dodged; and a camp warning that state regulation of social media is a step toward controlling speech. Running under all of it was a familiar cynicism about Japan importing policy just because other countries did it first.