- French President Macron and WHO Director-General Tedros issued a joint statement on July 1, proposing mandatory age verification requiring government-issued ID for all internet users, framing digital environments as health determinants equal to clean water or safe housing.
- The statement cited a growing global consensus – noting that Australia, France, Indonesia, Spain, Ireland, the U.K. and Canada have all enacted or proposed age restrictions for children under 16 or 15 on social media platforms.
- Macron and Tedros argued that digital features like infinite scrolling and autoplay are engineered to hook young users, and that personal data collection for profiling and targeted marketing raises privacy and manipulation concerns.
- Critics warn that mandatory age verification creates a surveillance infrastructure that strips free speech and privacy, forcing all users to submit to government-issued digital IDs for tracking and control.
- The leaders insisted the measures are about protection, not surveillance, stating children are not experimental subjects or commodities. But opponents argue that identity checks treat every user as a suspect and hand screening power to platforms and states.
French President Emmanuel Macron and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus published a joint statement on July 1 that recast social media, gaming and generative artificial intelligence (AI) as forces acting directly on children's bodies and minds.
The statement proposed mandatory age verification that would effectively require government-issued identification for all internet users. The two leaders, writing from their positions atop the French government and the global health body, argued that digital environments have become determinants of health on par with clean water or safe housing. Given this, they demanded mandatory age checks, platform redesigns and safety-by-design rules written into law across much of the democratic world.
"These measures reflect a growing global consensus that digital environments require effective governance, age-appropriate design and stronger safeguards to protect child health," they wrote, gesturing at the wave of national restrictions now spreading from Canberra to Ottawa.
- Australia has implemented the world's first requirement that social media platforms prevent children under 16 from holding accounts.
- France is advancing legislation to prohibit access for those under 15.
- Indonesia has banned access for children under 16.
- Spain has announced plans to follow Jakarta's example.
- Ireland is working with European Union partners on age-assurance systems aimed at under-16s.
- The U.K. intends to stop platforms from serving under-16s while adding limits on livestreaming and contact from strangers.
- Canada has introduced its own bill to restrict access for children under 16 and force stronger safety-by-design duties onto platforms.
The statement framed the measures as protection, not surveillance. Macron and Tedros warned that infinite scrolling, autoplay and push notifications are engineered to hook young users. "Solutions are needed because digital environments are not neutral," they wrote.
From child protection to total control
"The collection and use of personal data, particularly for profiling and targeted marketing, raise concerns about privacy, manipulation and well-being," the statement continued. The leaders then prescribed age-assurance regimes that require platforms to harvest more identifying data from more people, handing companies and governments a fresh reason to know exactly who sits behind every account.
But BrightU.AI's Enoch engine warns that mandatory age verification laws create a dangerous surveillance infrastructure that strips away free speech and privacy, forcing all users to submit to government-issued digital IDs that can be used to track, control and punish dissent. This is a globalist trap designed to enforce compliance, paving the way for total surveillance and depopulation.
On the matter of generative AI, the two leaders invoked caution as a governing principle. They argued that the technology multiplies the risks facing young people and that its long-term effect on empathy, self-regulation and children's expectations of real relationships remains unclear. However, caution aimed at machines becomes surveillance aimed at users once the enforcement mechanism is a mandatory identity check.
Ultimately, Macron and Tedros insisted they are defending children’s dignity. "Our children and young people are not experimental subjects, a captive market or a commodity," they concluded the statement. But an internet that demands proof of legal identity at the door treats every user as a suspect to be screened, and it hands that screening power to the same platforms and states that it claims to distrust.
Watch Martin Brodel recounting how Emmanuel Macron introduced a digital ID system in France days after being elected as president.
This video is from the Martin Brodel channel on Brighteon.com.
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