French President Macron praised India’s digital revolution, appealed to ban social media for children.

New Delhi, February 19, 2026 : Experts from all over the world gathered in the ‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ organized at the prestigious ‘Bharat Mandapam’ in the capital Delhi. From this global platform, French President Emmanuel Macron had openly praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s technological upliftment. Macron won everyone’s hearts by starting his speech with ‘Namaste’.

Highlighting the changes that have taken place in India in the last decade, President Macron said, “Ten years ago, an ordinary ferryman in Mumbai did not have a bank account or documents. Today, the same ferryman is accepting digital payments. This is an unprecedented change.” India trains millions of AI engineers every year. India has the second largest developer community in the world with more than 5 lakh engineers.

Macron also praised the digital identity (Aadhaar) of 1.4 billion people, the payment system (UPI) processing 20 billion transactions every month and 500 million digital health IDs. During the summit, the French President raised an important issue and appealed to Prime Minister Modi. He said, “France has banned social media for children under 15. We have moved forward in this direction and we hope that Prime Minister Modi also takes this path.” This suggestion is considered very important keeping in mind the mental health and safety of children.

In this summit, heads of state and representatives of various countries discussed the future of Artificial Intelligence. Macron added that no country in the world has the digital infrastructure that India has created.

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