France Considers Social Media Ban For Under 15s - 1

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France Considers Social Media Ban For Under 15s

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The French government plans to ban social media access for children younger than 15, while simultaneously banning knife purchases.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • A 14-year-old fatally stabbed a teaching assistant during a school bag check.
  • France plans to ban social media for children under 15.
  • Knife sales to minors will be banned within two weeks.

On Tuesday, a 14-year-old student fatally stabbed 31-year-old teaching assistant Mélanie during a school bag check at Nogent, in eastern France.

“She was great with kids,” said Laurence Raclot, a local who knew her, as reported by France24 . “In a quiet little town, we never would have thought this could happen,” Raclot added. Mélanie, who was employed at the school since September, was the mother of a four-year-old.

President Emmanuel Macron said he will push for an under-15s social media ban. “We cannot wait,” he told France 2. If the EU doesn’t act soon, France will introduce the ban independently. He also posted on X: “I’m banning social media for children under 15. Platforms have the ability to verify age. Let’s do it.”

C’est une recommandation des experts de la commission écrans : je porte l’interdiction des réseaux sociaux avant 15 ans. Les plateformes ont la possibilité de vérifier l’âge. Faisons-le. — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 10, 2025

The government also plans to ban knife sales to people under the age of 18. Prime Minister François Bayrou announced that the new policy will start in two weeks.

“Any knife that can be used as a weapon” will be included, he told TF1, as reported by France24. Online knife sellers will be required to verify buyers’ ages, similar to current laws for adult sites.

Meanwhile, the school set up a psychological support team, while Education Minister Élisabeth Borne requested a national moment of silence throughout the country, as reported by France24.

Some teachers’ unions questioned the effectiveness of the proposed measures. “little by little, we have seen attempts to turn them [Teaching assistants] into security guards,” said Sophie Venetitay of SNES-FSU, as reported by France24.

Remy Reynaud from CGT Educaction criticized bag searches, saying “they increase tensions,” as noted by France24.

Authorities are also considering a pilot program for metal detectors in schools, and measures to protect kids from “overexposure to screens.” Macron insists the time to act is now.

“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,” he said, as reported by Euronews .

French Startup Mistral Launches Magistral, Europe’s First AI Reasoning Model - 2

Photo by Conny Schneider on Unsplash

French Startup Mistral Launches Magistral, Europe’s First AI Reasoning Model

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The French startup Mistral launched its first AI reasoning model on Tuesday, marking the first of its kind developed in Europe. The new AI system, called Magistral, is positioned to compete with models such as DeepSeek-R1, Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, and OpenAI’s o3.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • Mistral launched its first AI reasoning model, Magistral, set to compete with similar models such as DeepSeek-R1, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and OpenAI’s o3.
  • Magistral comes with two variants, Magistral Small and Magistral Medium.
  • This is the first reasoning AI model developed in Europe.

According to the official announcement , Magistral comes in two variants: Magistral Small —24B parameter open-source— and Magistral Medium —a more powerful version designed for enterprise use. Mistral’s reasoning model includes multilingual capabilities and introduces two new modes in Le Chat: Flash Answers and Think mode.

“Today, we’re excited to announce our latest contribution to AI research with Magistral — our first reasoning model,” wrote Mistral on its website. “Released in both open and enterprise versions, Magistral is designed to think things through — in ways familiar to us — while bringing expertise across professional domains, transparent reasoning that you can follow and verify, along with deep multilingual flexibility.”

Magistral can assist users with coding projects by generating plans, backend architecture, frontend design, and data engineering workflows. The company also shared a video demonstrating the model’s coding capabilities.

Mistral offered benchmark test results as well, comparing Magistral to other models such as DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1—which was recently updated —, achieving strong scores. Mistral also shared a paper with more technical details of the new technology.

According to Reuters , Mistral is “Europe’s best shot” at developing competitive AI models in the region, but hasn’t advanced as fast as some of its competitors in China or the United States.

The French startup has had the president Emmanuel Macron’s support and was recently valued at $6.2 billion by venture capitalists. With the launch of Magistral, it keeps developing its growing potential to compete against other tech giants in the global AI race.