Greece has officially approved a law banning children under the age of 15 from using social media, becoming one of the first European Union countries to introduce such a restriction. Announced earlier this year by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the legislation will take effect on January 1, 2027.
The law covers major platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X. It also requires social media companies to implement reliable and proportionate age-verification systems to prevent underage users from accessing their services.
Mitsotakis described the measure as “difficult but necessary,” arguing that governments must take action to protect children from the growing challenges of online life.
Government Introduces Age-Verification Measures
Greece’s Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence, Dimitris Papastergiou, defended the legislation, saying the government could not afford to wait for a broader European solution while children continued to face online risks.
Platforms that fail to comply could face penalties under the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
Parents will also be required to install government-backed applications, including Kids Wallet or Gov.gr, and pair them with their children’s devices to restrict access to social media.
According to Papastergiou, the applications are designed to protect users’ privacy while limiting the amount of personal information collected. They use “age tokens” to verify a person’s age without unnecessarily exposing other personal details.
Law Faces Political Opposition but Public Support
The legislation faced opposition from minority parties in Greece’s parliament, but Mitsotakis used his governing majority to secure its passage.
The move follows another measure introduced in 2024, when Greece prohibited mobile phones in schools. According to the report, opinion polls indicate that the new social media restrictions have broad support among Greek adults.
Mitsotakis has said the government’s wider ambition is to encourage the European Union to adopt similar protections for children.
Europe and Australia Take Different Approaches
The European Commission has recently introduced its EU Kids Act, which also aims to strengthen protections for young internet users. However, the proposed European framework sets an outright social media ban only for children under 13, making Greece’s proposed age threshold more restrictive.
Australia was the first country to introduce a comprehensive social media ban for children, but implementing age-verification requirements has proved challenging.
Greece’s new law will test whether a national ban supported by government-backed verification tools can effectively limit children’s access to social media while protecting their privacy.