Greece banned social media for children under 15 from 1 January 2027

The Prime Minister of Greece, Kiriacos Mizotakis, announced on Wednesday that, as of 1 January 2027, Greece would ban access to social media by children under the age of 15. He noted that this was motivated by concerns about growing anxiety, sleep problems and addiction to online platform design.

According to Mitotakis, not only are children staring at the screen for long periods of time unable to rest the brain, but they are also facing growing pressure from continuous comparison and online commentary. He mentioned that he had spoken to many parents, who reflected their children ‘ s poor sleep, high level of anxiety and long periods of addiction to mobile phones. A public opinion poll published in February by the Greek research agency AlCO indicated that about 80 per cent of respondents agreed with the ban. The Greek Government had introduced legislation prohibiting the use of mobile phones in schools and had established a parental control platform to limit the time spent on screens for adolescents. “Greece will be one of the first countries to undertake such initiatives. But I’m sure we won’t be the last. Our goal is to move the EU in that direction.” Last December, Australia became the world ‘ s first country to ban social media for children under 16 years of age, blocking platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Meta, Snapchat and TikTok stated that they still believed that Australia ‘ s ban did not protect young people, but committed to comply.

Others are also tightening social media regulation: Britain, Malaysia, France, Denmark and Poland are either considering bans or are in the legislative process. In a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von Derraine, Mizotakis stated that measures at the national level alone would not be sufficient to protect minors from cyber addiction and called for concerted action by the EU. He proposed the establishment of a 15-year-old “digital age of majority” throughout the European Union, the mandatory age and periodic re-testing of all platforms and the establishment of a unified framework for enforcement and punishment, and urged the European Union to establish a unified system by 2026.