Greece is the latest country to announce plans to implement a social media ban for kids. The country’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said Wednesday that Greece plans to pursue legislation that would ban social media use for kids under 15.
As reported by The New York Times, Mitsotakis introduced the plan in a post on TikTok, where he explained the rationale behind the move. “I talk to a lot of parents who say roughly the same thing: that their children aren’t sleeping properly, get anxious easily, are on their phones a lot,” Mitsotakis said. “I also talk to a lot of you who say you’re tired of comparisons, of comments, of the constant pressure to be there all the time.”
He went on to say that the intention isn’t to deprive kids of technology. Rather, the legislation is meant to combat the “addictive design of certain applications” that “deprives your own innocence and freedom.”
Greece hasn’t yet passed legislation that would enact the ban, but The New York Times reports that it faces little opposition and is expected to pass this summer. The goal is to implement the ban by January 1, 2027.
We’ve seen several countries consider similar bans in recent years. Australia became the first country to implement a social media ban for kids, targeting those under 16, earlier this year. Several other countries are working on bans of their own, including Denmark, France, Germany, Slovenia and Malaysia, among others.
While Mitsotakis didn’t name any particular social media companies in his TikTok post, it’s likely the ban would impact everything from Facebook and X to YouTube and TikTok. Opponents of similar bans argue that they’ll just push children to more underground or less-regulated spaces online. However, governments are looking to pair the bans with rules requiring age-verification systems and fines for companies that don’t comply.
