Greece Locks Out Under-15s From Social Media in Landmark Move

A fundamental shift in how young people interact with the internet is about to take shape in Greece. The country has officially enacted a law that will prohibit children under the age of fifteen from using major social media platforms. This move places Greece at the forefront of European regulation, forcing tech companies to adopt stricter age verification methods before a hard deadline arrives at the start of the new year.

The new legislation becomes effective on January 1, 2027. It specifically targets popular services such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X. The law mandates that these platforms implement age-verification methods that are both reliable and proportionate to the service provided. This is not a temporary measure but a permanent change to the legal framework governing digital access for minors in the nation.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who first announced the initiative earlier this year, described the bill as a difficult but necessary step for the government. He noted that while waiting for a unified European law might have been easier, the current situation required immediate action. He emphasized that children are increasingly immersed in the internet daily, and a responsible government must act accordingly.

Dimitris Papastergiou, the minister for digital governance and AI, provided further context on the urgency of the measure. He stated that it would have been simple for the government to do nothing and wait for a perfect European solution. However, he argued that the challenge is present today, and that inaction was no longer an option for a body tasked with protecting its citizens.

Compliance with the new rules is not optional. Platforms that fail to meet the requirements will face fines under the EU's Digital Services Act. To help parents manage their children's access, the government will release two state-backed applications called Kids Wallet and Gov.gr. These apps must be downloaded on a parent's device and paired with the child's phone to block unauthorized access to social media services.

The technical approach relies on a concept known as age tokens. According to Papastergiou, these tokens allow the system to confirm a user's age while minimizing the amount of personal data that is disclosed. This design aims to protect user privacy by ensuring that platforms do not collect more information than is strictly necessary for verification purposes.

The political path to passing this law was not without friction. Minority parties in the Greek parliament opposed the legislation. However, Mitsotakis leveraged the support of his majority government to push the bill through. The move follows a 2024 decision to ban mobile phones in schools, suggesting a broader national strategy to manage technology use among youth.

Public opinion in Greece appears to support this new direction. Opinion polls indicate that the adult population widely backs the social media ban for children. The government views this domestic law as a catalyst for broader regional change. Mitsotakis has stated that the goal is to push the European Union in the same direction.

The European Commission has recently introduced the EU Kids Act, which aims to address similar concerns across the bloc. However, that proposed law currently stipulates an outright ban only for children under the age of thirteen. Greece's threshold of fifteen is therefore more restrictive. Australia remains the first nation to enact a full social media ban for kids, though its experience highlights the technical difficulties involved in implementing robust age verification systems.

As the January 2027 deadline approaches, attention will turn to how effectively these new verification methods work in practice. The success of the Greek model could influence future policy discussions in other European countries. For now, the law is set, the apps are in development, and the era of unrestricted social media access for Greek teenagers is coming to a close.