Depending on where you’re from, there are different age restrictions for different activities. For example in some countries, you can drink when you’re 18, while other countries might require that you’re 21. The same can be said about signing up for online services, where users need to be of a certain age to be able to do so without parental consent.
However over in France, the country’s government is proposing an age-of-consent rule in which all teens/children below the age of 16 will need to get consent from their parents to open an account on Facebook or any other form of social media. According to Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, this consent could come in the form of a checkbox that users have to tick to confirm approval, and that it can be considered a declaration governed by law.
However there is the question of how exactly how enforceable such a law could be. As it stands there doesn’t seem to be any kind of age-gate that effectively keeps people out. Sometimes all users have to do is click “Enter” or “I Agree” even if it isn’t necessarily true. Sometimes when asked to enter their date of birth, users can put in pretty much anything they want and there is no way to actually confirm it.
That being said, the bill is still pending approval from parliament, which means that as it stands it isn’t a law so it has yet to actually come into effect.