Negative Impact on Youth Violence Highlighted
"If the EU Does Not Act, France Will Take the Lead"
Emmanuel Macron, President of France, has pointed to the negative impact of social networking services (SNS) as a cause of the recent series of knife crimes involving teenagers, and announced plans to ban SNS use for those under the age of 15.
On the evening of June 10 (local time), President Macron appeared on France 2 TV and stated, "The use of knives is spreading like a trend among children and adolescents," emphasizing that the knife murder by a teenager that occurred in France that day is not a new phenomenon.
On the same day, at a middle school in Nogent, Haute-Marne, France, a 14-year-old male student wielded a knife during a bag inspection, resulting in the death of a female educational assistant.
Referring to this incident, President Macron asserted, "SNS is influencing violence among children and adolescents," and insisted, "SNS should be banned for those under the age of 15." He further stated that if the European Union (EU) does not take such measures, France will move ahead and ban SNS use among youth on its own, saying, "We cannot wait any longer."
President Macron explained that a ban on SNS for youth could be implemented through measures such as introducing age verification systems, similar to the restrictions that prevent minors from accessing adult content sites.
He also announced, "Young people will no longer be able to purchase knives online," and said the government would take immediate action. In relation to this, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou explained on TF1 that "currently, only daggers are banned, but now all types of knives that could be used as weapons will be prohibited from being sold to minors."
In France, there has been a series of youth crimes involving knives in and around schools in recent months. In April, at a high school in Nantes, a 15-year-old student attacked a classmate with a knife, resulting in one death and three serious injuries. In January, a 14-year-old student died after being struck with a large knife (machete) at a middle school in the suburbs of Paris.
As youth crime and weapon possession in schools have become serious social issues, the French Ministry of Education recently introduced bag inspections at some schools. In fact, during a two-month period starting at the end of March, 6,000 belongings inspections were conducted at schools nationwide, resulting in the confiscation of 186 knives.
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