Better Internet for Kids

Here, we take an in-depth look at the latest monitoring information for France.

BIK policies

Policy design asks whether evidence and research support BIK-related policies and whether systems are in place for monitoring and evaluating those policies.

Policy frameworks

Policy frameworks describe the overarching approach for a better internet, and establish the underlying goals, principles and guidelines that shape individual policies within this area.

In France:

• This topic is an important and emerging policy priority, with children’s online protection, digital empowerment, and digital participation partially covered in national/regional laws, regulations and policies.
• There are separate, dedicated policies that address children and the digital environment (protection, empowerment, and participation).
• The BIK / BIK+ strategy has not influenced national policies on children and the environment
• Children's rights in the digital environment are not explicitly recognised in national policy documents but receive implicit support in policies dealing with children's digital activity.

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on key national policy frameworks in France.

Policy design

Policy design asks whether evidence and research support BIK-related policies and whether systems are in place for monitoring and evaluating those policies.

• Surveys of children’s digital activities are undertaken only irregularly.
• Information is regularly gathered to inform policies on children and the digital environment. However, this relies primarily on third-party sources, and there are limited opportunities to commission new data on children’s digital activity.
• In the field of research, budget allocations for work on the subject are mostly decided at regional levels and in some national institutes.
• Policies are monitored and evaluated but not systematically. It depends on the needs at a particular time or when policies are being considered.

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on recent national research studies in France.

Policy governance

Policy governance examines how policies are coordinated at the governmental level, whether other implementation bodies are involved in their delivery, and whether structured mechanisms are available to guide their implementation.

• Policy development sits across a range of ministries, and there is no lead with specific assigned responsibility for developing government on policies, guidelines and programmes relating to children and the digital environment.
• Coordination happens more informally across the different departments and entities that contribute to government policies, guidelines, and programmes regarding children and the digital environment.
• One or more programmes of action are underway supporting children’s online safety and participation in the digital environment. However, these lack accountabilities such as defined timelines, assigned responsibilities or key performance indicators (KPIs).

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for detailed information on key policy governance mechanisms in France.

Stakeholder involvement

Stakeholder involvement enquires how different stakeholders can participate in policy development. Children’s involvement in policy-making is one such key issue. Additionally, international knowledge exchange about children's digital participation is also relevant to this topic.

• Various ad hoc multistakeholder groups exist across different branches of government, in which stakeholders may contribute to policy deliberation and development.
• Members of the public are consulted on occasion in the course of the development of new policies. However, this is not always the case.
• There are limited opportunities for youth consultation on digital policies.
• Policymakers actively participate in various EU-level and other international inter-governmental groups related to digital policies for children.

BIK+ actions

Pillar 1 – safe digital experiences

Safe digital experiences refer to actions taken to protect children from harmful and illegal online content, conduct, contact, and risks as young consumers and to improve their well-being online through a safe, age-appropriate digital environment created in a way that respects children’s best interests. 

Responses to EU laws

• The Law of 21 May 2024, aimed at securing and regulating the digital space, designates the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (ARCOM) as the Digital Services Coordinator in France.

Addressing harmful online content

• Harmful online content isn't listed in a precise law, as what is forbidden online is also prohibited offline.
• Pharos is a dedicated facility for reporting/removing harmful content. It is a government-led platform comprising law enforcement specialists from the Ministry of Interior. The facility is available to all, including children.
• In June 2023, a new law was voted on regarding the status of influencers and the labelling of commercial content on social platforms: Law No. 2023-451 of 9 June 2023, aimed at regulating commercial influence and combating the excesses of influencers on social networks.

Addressing harmful online conduct

• National/regional laws, regulations or policies in place to protect children and young people from intimate image abuse are covered under the Penal Code
• The relevant laws addressing bullying were also amended in March 2022 to include any bullying situation committed against minors online.

Age verification and digital identity systems

• The Law No. 2024-449 of 21 May 2024, aimed at securing and regulating the digital space, addresses concrete ways to apply age verification, has been discussed, and a system is being tested.

Pillar 2 – digital empowerment

Digital empowerment incorporates actions so that all children, including those in vulnerable situations, acquire the necessary skills and competences to make sound choices and express themselves in the online environment safely and responsibly.

Supports in formal education

• Online safety forms part of the national curriculum. The ministries responsible for National Education, Youth and Sports and Higher Education, Research, and Innovation have developed a digital skills reference framework (CRCN) inspired by the European framework (DIGCOMP) and valid from primary school to university.
• The PIX certification allows users to certify a digital skills profile and be recognised by the state and the professional world. It is an asset in the student's search for an internship, their progress in higher education, and their professional integration. The PIX certification process is mandatory from year eight, and final certification is mandatory for the final school exam in middle school and the final school exam in high school.
• The anti-bullying programme at school, pHARe, is a comprehensive plan for preventing and dealing with bullying. Implemented in 2021, extended to schools and colleges at the start of the 2022 school year, it has been extended to high schools since the start of the 2023 school year. 100% of schools and establishments are implementing this program.
• An Interministerial plan to combat harassment in schools was adopted in September 2023. Measures implemented against harassment in schools include dedicated lessons to prevent bullying and cyberbullying from the third class to the high school, systematic recording of instances of harassment, designation of harassment coordinators, training of staff to fight against bullying, and an annual barometer of harassment in schools.
• Internet Sans Crainte is the national awareness-raising programme, as part of the French Safer Internet Centre (SIC), promoting a better internet for children and young people in France. Operating since 2007 by Tralalere, producer of pluri media educational programmes and awareness campaigns, it produces multimedia educational resources, often with the support of the Ministry of Education, which are extremely widely used both in schools and in other educational structures.
• Internet Sans Crainte leads regular training for teachers and trainers at both national and regional levels.

Informal education

• The national PIX certification process for digital skills is also open to adults.
• The PIX repository is a framework to define and delimit the educational content covered by the PIX assessment and certification system. Based on the European reference framework (DigComp) and the Digital Skills Reference Framework (CRCN), it is divided into 16 skills organised into five areas and broken down into eight levels. More than 200 topics are covered and change as technology evolves. The assessment on PIX uses a bank of questions designed and organised according to this framework.

Empowering through digital skills

• Education in media literacy and critical analysis of the information system is part of the school curriculum via a domain called EMI (Education aux médias et à l'information). EMI is part of the common core of knowledge, skills and culture, the citizenship pathway and the artistic and cultural education pathway. The guidelines for cycles two and three and the programmes for cycle four define a teaching framework in which all disciplines participate.

Pillar 3 – active participation, respecting children’s rights

Active participation, respecting children’s rights, refers to actions which give children and young people a say in the digital environment, with more child-led activities to foster innovative and creative safe digital experiences.

Active participation

• The French Safer Internet Consortium has led a Safer Internet Day event focused on young people and with large-scale youth representation.
• The “Parlement des enfants  project” (the Children's Parliament" project) allows schoolchildren, through the practice of dialogue and democratic debate, to discover the role of the legislator during class work carried out during part of the school year on an annual theme relating to current societal subjects. Topics may include policies related to children's use of the internet. Youth councils get children involved on a local level. 

Digital creativity

• Code-decode is the programme to introduce young people to coding and digital culture such as making videos, create an app or shared digital platforms.
• Vinz et Lou, a collection of resources to tackle big society issues with primary school children  cartoons, interactive activities, digital lessons, comics, cards and quizzes.

Read the full Policy monitor country profile for some best practice examples from France.

BIK+ index 2024: France

The BIK+ index has been developed to provide an aggregated at-a-glance overview of the levels of implementation across the two dimensions, BIK policies and BIK+ actions, in France compared to the EU27+2 average. Values are shown in per cent.

Please note, the data used in this page and the corresponding country profile was collected in February 2024.