Greece is preparing to become one of the first European countries to impose a blanket ban on social media use for children under 15, with the conservative government confirming Monday that draft legislation will come before Parliament this month and take effect on January 1. The measure would shift legal responsibility away from families and squarely onto the platforms themselves, marking a notable departure from the self-regulation model that has dominated the industry for two decades.
A Shift From Personal to Corporate Responsibility
Minister of State Akis Skertsos framed the bill as a reordering of accountability rather than a rejection of technology. "We are all for the use of technology in education, information and entertainment, but we consider that there must be a regulatory framework," he told reporters, arguing that the state must move beyond relying on "the personal responsibility of parents and children" toward "corporate responsibility and state regulation." The draft law was tabled in Parliament last week and is scheduled for its first committee debate Tuesday, with a full vote expected October 22. Given that the governing New Democracy party controls 156 of the chamber's 300 seats, passage is considered all but certain.
How the Ban Would Work
The restriction would apply to anyone born in Greece from January 1, 2013 onward, covering both new users and children who already hold active accounts. Officials were explicit that no exceptions will be permitted, even with parental consent - a stricter standard than age-verification schemes elsewhere that allow guardians to approve access. Enforcement will rest on social media companies, which will be required to verify users' ages in line with European Union rules. Verification is expected to run through government digital platforms such as Gov.gr and KidsWallet, which officials say will disclose only whether a user is above or below the age threshold, without sharing further personal data. Penalties for non-compliance would fall on the platforms rather than on children or parents.
The Evidence Behind the Policy
Officials pointed to domestic research indicating that more than half of pupils in the first three years of Greek high school began using social media between the ages of 10 and 12. Among that group, roughly one in four reported what they considered excessive use, and about one in five said they felt anxious, insecure or distracted when unable to access their phones. Skertsos was careful to temper the framing: "It's not that someone using social media will de facto become addicted to them," he said, while noting that available research suggests at least one in four children faces meaningful risk of exposure to harmful content, online bullying or material unsuited to their age.
Wider Implications for Platforms and Families
The Greek initiative arrives amid a broader European reckoning over how minors interact with algorithm-driven platforms, echoing debates already underway in France, Spain and at the EU level over the Digital Services Act's child-protection provisions. Age-verification mandates of this kind raise practical questions that extend well beyond Greece's borders: how platforms authenticate age without excessive data collection, how enforcement applies to companies headquartered outside the EU, and whether determined teenagers will simply migrate to unregulated alternatives or use workarounds such as falsified credentials. If implemented as described, Greece's approach - anchored in state-run identity verification rather than platform-side estimation tools - could become a reference model, or a cautionary example, for other governments weighing similarly firm restrictions on youth access to social media.