Athens Moves First: Greece Bans Social Media for Kids Under 15

A smartphone screen glows in a dimly lit room in Athens, its display blocked by a new government app.

Greece’s parliament voted to ban children under the age of 15 from using major social media platforms. The legislation follows a public commitment made earlier this year by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The rule takes effect on January 1, 2027.

The ban covers popular services including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X. These platforms must implement age-verification systems that are both reliable and proportionate. Dimitris Papastergiou, the minister for digital governance and artificial intelligence, argued that waiting for a unified European standard would have been too slow. He stated that children are sinking into the internet daily, so a responsible government must act. The decision was controversial; minority parties in parliament opposed the bill, but Mitsotakis’s government passed it using its majority vote.

Compliance will be enforced through the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which allows for fines against non-compliant companies. On the consumer side, parents must download one of two state-backed applications, Kids Wallet or Gov.gr. These apps pair with a child’s device to restrict access to the listed services. Papastergiou noted that the tools use age tokens to verify identity while collecting the minimum necessary personal data to protect privacy.

Greece has a recent history of regulating children’s technology use. The country banned mobile phones in schools in 2024. Current opinion polls suggest that Greek adults broadly support the new social media restrictions. Mitsotakis said the government aims to push the European Union toward similar measures. The European Commission recently proposed the EU Kids Act, which targets children under 13 for an outright ban.

The next step is implementation. Greece must build the infrastructure for the state-backed apps and ensure that major platforms integrate their verification methods. This approach offers a potential model for other nations facing similar challenges with digital age verification.