Greece passes under-15 social media ban, effective 1 January 2027

Parliament passes the ban

Greece's parliament approved a bill on the night of 22 October that bars children under 15 from social media. The restriction takes effect on 1 January 2027 and reaches platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with LinkedIn named alongside them. Messaging apps stay open to under-15s. Only the governing New Democracy party voted in favour, PASOK abstained and five other opposition parties voted against, after a debate of more than 16 hours. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis first announced the plan on TikTok in April, describing it as a demanding but necessary step against young people's dependence on screens.

How age checks would work

Platforms carry the burden of confirming that each user is old enough, and the rule applies to accounts opened before January as well. Parents cannot give their children permission to sign up. The government is promoting Kids Wallet, an app that combines parental supervision with age checks, alongside Gov.gr Wallet. Papastergiou told the broadcaster Skai that platforms may use these state apps to confirm the minimum age without requiring a full name or exact birth date, although that option is not compulsory and companies can build their own verification tools.

We do not give platforms any of our children's personal data whatsoever

Mitsotakis gave platforms two and a half months to put a reliable age-check system in place while fully protecting privacy. The law imposes no fines or sanctions on parents if children get around the limits, because it places the technical responsibility on the platforms.

Oversight and criticism

Enforcement will be shared across several bodies. The EETT, Greece's telecommunications and postal authority, acts as digital services coordinator, supported by the National Council for Radio and Television and the data protection authority. The law sits within Article 28 of the Digital Services Act, which covers minors online, and uses the European cooperation mechanism between national authorities and the Commission. A complaint from a user or another body starts a case, and if a platform is based in another member state, the matter moves to that country's authority. Earlier, 25 organizations warned that in practice everyone in Greece could be asked to prove their age, which would erode online anonymity. PASOK had proposed a strict ban for under-13s and parental controls for 13- and 14-year-olds, while Syriza criticized the blanket ban.

Wider context

Australia was the first country to restrict social media for children, barring under-16s from late 2025. More than twenty countries have since adopted similar measures, mostly targeting 15- and 16-year-olds, according to a tally compiled by AFP. France passed an under-15 law in July, but the Constitutional Council struck it down about a month later as a disproportionate breach of young people's freedoms. Greece is now among the first EU states, after France, to legislate an under-15 limit. Austria, Slovenia, Denmark and Spain have adopted similar approaches, while the United Kingdom is preparing its own rules.