France’s Senate has passed a bill that would bar children under 15 from using social media, putting the country on track to become another major jurisdiction after Australia to adopt a hard age threshold. Under the reported plan, the law would take effect on Sept. 1, ban new accounts for users under 15, give platforms four additional months to shut existing accounts, and require age-verification systems approved by France’s privacy regulator. Taiwan is not pursuing the same outright ban, but it has begun moving on a different front. On April 21, 2026, the Ministry of Health and Welfare published draft amendments to Article 59 of the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act. The proposal would introduce age-identification mechanisms and allow access-restriction measures for harmful content, with detailed standards to be set by the NCC and the Ministry of Digital Affairs. The draft has already drawn criticism from civil society groups. The Judicial Reform Foundation warned of privacy risks, overly broad legal authorization, and weak due-process protections around network blocking. Amnesty International Taiwan also raised concerns about possible harm to privacy, anonymity and free expression. The debate in Taiwan is no longer only about whether minors should face tighter controls online, but about what kind of enforcement infrastructure is being built and how far it could later be extended.

France’s national gambling regulator has ordered all domestic internet service providers to block access to Polymarket, escalating a four-year standoff with the crypto-based prediction platform. The order, formally issued on July 16, treats Polymarket as illegal gambling rather than an unlicensed crypto exchange, a distinction that could shape how other European regulators proceed. French authorities said an earlier restriction introduced in November 2024, which barred domestic users from sending funds to the platform, failed to curb activity. Citing Similarweb data, the regulator said Polymarket drew 205,057 unique visitors in France and 578,751 total visits in June 2026 alone, with VPN use allowing users to bypass payment restrictions. Authorities also pointed to two enforcement tracks: a complaint from Météo-France over alleged manipulation of temperature sensor data tied to weather contracts on Polymarket, and a review of a French trader using the account name “Fredi9999,” who was said to have shifted odds in 2024 U.S. election markets through large positions. With more than 30 countries and territories already restricting Polymarket, France’s decision may become a reference point for the European Union as it weighs whether crypto prediction markets belong under gambling law or financial-market rules such as MiCA.

France’s national gambling regulator, Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), ordered internet service providers on July 16 to block prediction market platform Polymarket across the country. According to CoinDesk, the move escalates earlier French action taken in November 2024, when authorities had already imposed a financial transaction ban on the platform. The latest order pushes enforcement to the network level, with violations carrying fines of up to €100,000, or about $114,000. ANJ argued that the live odds displayed on Polymarket’s homepage amount to the distribution and promotion of gambling services, which conflicts with France’s classification of prediction markets as illegal gambling. That classification formally took effect in February 2026. The regulator also cited product design concerns, saying the platform lacks betting limits, does not offer self-exclusion tools, and includes addictive features. The tougher approach follows limited results from the earlier ban. In June 2026, Polymarket still recorded 578,751 visits from France, coming from 205,057 unique users. The report also said other European countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, and Poland, have already moved to restrict or block the platform.

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