The French president has linked a current deadly college stabbing to youth violence fueled by on-line platforms
France will block social media entry for kids underneath 15 “inside a couple of months” if the EU doesn’t take coordinated motion, French President Emmanuel Macron said following a lethal knife assault at an area college.
“We should ban social media for these underneath 15,” Macron instructed the broadcaster France 2 on Tuesday.
Hours earlier, a 14-year-old pupil attacked a 31-year-old instructing assistant throughout a college bag verify for weapons in Nogent in jap France. He then injured a police officer with the identical knife and was arrested on the scene, in response to the Nationwide Gendarmerie.
“I’m giving us a couple of months to get the European mobilization going. In any other case… we’ll begin doing it in France. We will’t wait,” Macron mentioned.
The coed, described as well-behaved and with no prior points, had participated in anti-bullying actions and got here from a secure household. The sufferer, a mom of two, had reportedly labored on the college since September.
Macron mentioned social media was one of many components responsible for violence amongst younger folks because the incident was not an remoted case. In April, a highschool pupil in western France fatally stabbed a lady and injured three boys earlier than being arrested.
Writing on X after the interview, Macron mentioned such regulation was backed by consultants. “Platforms have the flexibility to confirm age. Do it,” he wrote.
Earlier this yr, 200 colleges in France started piloting a “digital break,” barring college students underneath 15 from utilizing smartphones throughout college hours. The Training Ministry additionally stepped up college safety, with random bag checks resulting in 186 knife seizures in two months this spring.
Spain and Greece are additionally backing a plan to require age verification know-how on all internet-connected gadgets. The proposal would make such verification obligatory for platforms corresponding to Fb and X.
The European Fee and several other EU states are growing pilot packages to check age checks and parental controls. Nevertheless, progress is being slowed by differing laws throughout EU international locations and the benefit with which customers can entry social media platforms from outdoors the bloc.
In Russia, restrictions launched in September ban college students from utilizing cellphones in colleges, permitting exceptions solely in emergencies.
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