Ban on playground game web videos

VIDEO-sharing websites such as YouTube are to be banned from displaying clips of children taking part in dangerous playground games under a new law.

MPs have voted unanimously in favour of the legislation, which aims to reduce the number of deaths linked to games such as the jeu du foulard - a suffocation game that killed 13 children last year.

Children have posted mobile phone video clips of themselves taking part in the dangerous games at school and at home. MPs say this encourages others to try doing the same.

Website owners who ignore the ban and allow users to upload such videos face up to three years in prison and a €75,000 fine.

Two MPs, Cécile Dumoulin and Patrice Verchère produced a research paper last October calling for an inter-ministerial taskforce to be set up to tackle dangerous playground games and better training for teachers.