French President Emmanuel Macron said he would push for European Union regulation to ban social media for children under the age of 15 after a fatal stabbing at a school in eastern France, the latest such violent attack that left the country reeling, Reuters reports.
Macron said in an interview late on Tuesday that he hoped to see results within the next few months.
“If that does not work, we will start to do it in France. We cannot wait,” he told the France 2 public broadcaster, hours after a fatal stabbing at a middle school in Nogent, Haute-Marne.
Police questioned a 14-year-old student on Tuesday over the knifing of a 31-year-old school aide during a bag search for weapons.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told parliament the incident was not an isolated case. Macron said social media was one of the factors to blame for violence among young people.
Macron’s comments come amid a wave of measures in countries around the world aimed at curbing social media use among children.
Australia last year approved a social media ban for under-16s after an emotive public debate, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.
