A bill to “ban the use of online social media services by minors” was passed by a majority vote of the Greek parliament Thursday and will go into effect on January 1, 2027.
The New Democracy party was the only bloc in parliament to support the measure; while opposition parties SYRIZA, Greek Solution, KKE, Niki and Freedom Course voted against it, and PASOK abstained.
Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Dimitris Papastergiou called the step, “necessary, effective, proportionate and EU-law-compliant,” according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini, adding that social media platforms would have until the first of the year to, “determine whether the accounts they host and the services they provide are intended for adults or not.”
Pointing to similar age limits on alcohol and tobacco sales to minors, Papastergiou said lawmakers had no time to wait for Brussels to pass “the perfect European law,” saying, “let’s send the message that the problem of uncontrolled internet use — which leads children to addiction at the expense of their mental health — cannot continue.”
Why does Greece want to introduce social media age limits?
The move to put legal age limits on social media use began last year in Australia, with numerous countries around the world swiftly following suit.
Greece is one of seven EU countries seeking to introduce standards for age-verification on social media, which proponents argue will curb the “endless scrolling” that deprives kids of sleep, destroys their attention span and ability to concentrate and keeps them from playing outdoors and spending time with their friends.
Papastergiou defended the use of an app known as “Kid’s Wallet” as a means to that end, saying that it had been established according to codes and technical specifications set by the EU.
The minister was emphatic that the app, “does not provide any personal data whatsoever about children or users, other than whether they are over or under 15 years of age — not even their date of birth.”
“We owe our children their childhood,” said Papastergiou. “That is what we are doing today. We have a duty to protect them. Given the current challenges, the social media bill delivers what society has been waiting for.”
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