Greece Sets Age-15 Threshold for New Social Media Restrictions

Beginning on January 1, 2027, families in Greece will see a significant shift in how their young children access the digital world. The nation’s newly enacted legislation will formally prohibit children under the age of 15 from using popular social media platforms, marking a decisive change in daily digital habits for households across the country. For parents, this transition will require active participation, as the law mandates the use of specific state-backed applications to manage their children’s online access and verify their ages.

The measure, which was passed by the Greek parliament and announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis earlier this year, is set to become official at the start of next year. Mitsotakis described the initiative as a difficult but necessary step for the government. This legislation places Greece among the first countries in the European Union to impose such specific restrictions on minors, signaling a broader trend in regulatory oversight of digital environments for youth.

The scope of the new law covers major social networking services, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X. To comply with the regulations, these platforms are required to implement age-verification methods that are both proportionate and reliable. The goal is to ensure that the services can accurately distinguish between adult users and those who are too young to participate without parental oversight.

Dimitris Papastergiou, Greece’s minister for digital governance and AI, emphasized the urgency of the situation. He noted that while it would have been simple for the government to wait for a perfect European-level law, the current challenges demanded immediate action. Papastergiou stated that children are increasingly immersed in the internet and that a responsible government is obligated to act to protect them.

For non-compliance, the law leverages the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which allows for fines against services that fail to meet the new standards. Additionally, parents will be required to download and install specific applications on their children’s devices. These apps, known as Kids Wallet or Gov.gr, will serve to block access to social media for eligible children. The government designed these tools to protect user privacy by utilizing 'age tokens.' These tokens are intended to confirm a user's age while minimizing the amount of personal data that must be disclosed to the platforms.

The path to enactment was not without political friction. Minority parties in Greece opposed the bill, but Prime Minister Mitsotakis utilized his government’s majority to push the legislation through. The move builds on previous national efforts to limit digital distractions, such as the 2024 decision to ban mobile phones in schools. Recent opinion polls indicate that the new social media ban enjoys widespread support among Greece’s adult population.

The Greek government views this national law as a strategic move to influence broader European policy. Mitsotakis has expressed the goal of pushing the European Union to adopt similar measures. This aligns with recent developments in Brussels, where the European Commission introduced the EU Kids Act. However, that proposed European legislation currently stipulates an outright ban only for children under the age of 13, making Greece’s threshold of 15 years old more restrictive. Australia remains the first nation to enact a full social media ban for children, though it has faced significant challenges in implementing effective age-verification systems.

As the effective date of January 1, 2027, approaches, Greek families will need to prepare for the new requirements. The implementation of the Kids Wallet and Gov.gr apps will be central to the law’s enforcement, serving as the primary mechanism for parents to manage their children’s digital presence. The success of the initiative will likely depend on the reliability of the age-verification technology and the level of parental engagement required by the new rules.