Athens Blocks Social Apps For Under-15s

Greece has officially locked in a legislative framework that restricts social media access for minors under the age of fifteen.

The measure becomes active on January 1, 2027, marking one of the earliest national implementations of such rules within the European Union. The legislation targets major digital platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X. These services are now required to deploy proportionate and reliable age-verification methods to enforce the new age limit.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the bill as difficult but necessary. He noted that while it would have been simpler to wait for a unified European standard, the growing digital footprint of children demanded immediate action. Dimitris Papastergiou, the minister for digital governance and AI, emphasized that the government felt obliged to act rather than wait for the perfect European law. He argued that children are increasingly immersed in the internet, necessitating a responsible governmental response.

Non-compliance with the act will trigger fines under the existing EU Digital Services Act. The regulation also places a new burden on households. Parents must download state-backed applications, specifically Kids Wallet or Gov.gr, onto their children’s devices. These tools function as access blockers. Papastergiou explained that the apps utilize age tokens to verify a user's age while minimizing the collection of personal data, thereby enhancing privacy protection.

The political path to enactment was not without friction. Minority parties in the Greek parliament opposed the legislation. However, the prime minister leveraged his majority to push the bill through the legislative process. This move follows a 2024 ban on mobile phones in schools. Recent opinion polls indicate that the adult population in Greece largely supports the new social media restrictions for children.

The government views this domestic move as a strategic step to influence broader EU policy. Mitsotakis 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 aligns with this trajectory but currently stipulates an outright ban only for children under thirteen. Australia remains the first nation to enact a full social media ban for kids, though it has faced significant challenges in implementing effective age verification.