Greece Blocks Teen Social Media Access

The Greek government has officially secured a legislative victory that places the country at the forefront of global digital regulation. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who first proposed the measure earlier this year, oversaw the parliamentary passage of a bill that prohibits children under the age of fifteen from using major social media platforms. The law is now codified and will take full effect on January 1, 2027. This move marks Greece as one of the first European Union member states to enact such a strict age restriction, following a trajectory initially paved by Australia.

The legislation targets popular services including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X. Under the new rules, these platforms are required to implement age-verification methods that are both proportionate and reliable. The goal is to ensure that minors cannot easily bypass age gates to access their favorite digital spaces. Mitsotakis described the bill as difficult but necessary, signaling a shift in how the government approaches the intersection of childhood and the internet.

Dimitris Papastergiou, the minister for digital governance and AI, argued against the common tendency to wait for broader European regulations. He stated that it would have been easy to do nothing and wait for a perfect EU law, but noted that children are sinking into the internet every day. He maintained that a responsible government must act when it is obliged to do so. This perspective frames the national ban as a proactive step rather than a reactive one.

Compliance with the new act carries significant financial stakes. If platforms fail to adhere to the requirements, they face fines under the existing EU Digital Services Act. For families, the process involves downloading state-backed applications known as Kids Wallet or Gov.gr. These apps must be paired to a child's device to block access to restricted platforms. Papastergiou explained that these tools are designed to protect privacy by using age tokens, which confirm a user's age while minimizing the amount of personal data disclosed.

The path to passage was not without political friction. Minority parties in the Greek parliament opposed the legislation, but the prime minister relied on his majority government to push the bill through. This follows a previous national decision in 2024 to ban mobile phones in schools. Recent opinion polls suggest that the adult population in Greece widely supports the new social media ban, indicating strong public backing for the government's interventionist approach.

Mitsotakis has expressed a broader ambition beyond national borders. He stated that the government's goal is to push the European Union in the same direction. The European Commission recently introduced the EU Kids Act, which aligns with this sentiment, although that proposed law currently stipulates an outright ban only for children under the age of thirteen. Greece's threshold of fifteen is therefore higher than the current EU proposal.

There are, however, practical challenges that remain to be seen. Australia was the first country to enact a full social media ban for kids, but the implementation of age verification has proved difficult there. Greece will now have to navigate similar technical and logistical hurdles as it prepares for the new year. The coming months will test whether the proposed age tokens and state apps can function smoothly without creating excessive friction for users or platforms.