Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Wednesday that Greece will ban children under the age of 15 from using social media starting from January 1, 2027, citing increased youth anxiety, increased sleep problems, and the addictive design of online platforms. A poll released by ALCO in February showed that about 80% of respondents supported the ban. The Greek government has legislated to ban the use of mobile phones in schools and has set up a parent control platform to limit teenagers' screen time.
"Greece will be one of the first countries to take such measures," Mitsotakis said in a video speech, adding that he had spoken to parents before taking the decision. "But I am convinced that Greece will never be the last. Our goal is to push the EU to move in this direction as well."
Australia became the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from using social media in December last year. The banned platforms include TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube, and Meta's Instagram and Facebook.
Meta, Snapchat and TikTok all stated that they still believe that Australia’s ban cannot truly protect minors, but promised to comply with relevant regulations.
The Greek government stated that it is currently unable to force social media platforms to verify the age of users, but recommended that platforms adopt the relevant mechanisms established by the EU and Greece, and called on parents to cooperate with this work.
Greek Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou said that starting from January 1, 2027, relevant platforms must have the ability to restrict user use, otherwise they will face fines under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), with fines up to 6% of their global turnover.
The Greek Parliament will legislate on the ban in mid-2026. Other countries are also tightening social media regulations, with the UK, Malaysia, France, Denmark and Poland all considering bans or entering into legislation.
Mitsotakis also sent a letter to European Commission President Ursulavonder Leyen, calling on the EU to take coordinated action, saying that individual country measures alone are not enough to protect minors from Internet addiction.
In his letter, he proposed to establish a 15-year-old "digital age of adulthood" within the EU, force all platforms to conduct age verification and regular re-verification, and establish a unified enforcement and penalty framework, urging the EU to establish a unified system by the end of 2026.
Greek State Minister Akis Skertsos told a joint press conference that EU countries do not have the flexibility of Australia on this issue.
"National legislation is largely linked to and influenced by EU legislation," he said. "Unless we have an EU-level legislative framework... national legislation alone will have little effect."