Technology and Scienceupdated 1h ago3 min read
Greece’s Parliament Approves Under-15 Social Media Ban Starting January 1, 2027
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Parliament approved a law banning under-15s from social media from January 2027. New Democracy backed the bill; opposition parties and abstentions opposed it.
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Under-15 Social Media Ban
Greece’s Parliament approved a bill that bans access by minors under 15 to social media services starting January 1, 2027, after the initiative passed its second reading in the competent committees with majority support. New Democracy backed the text in the preliminary phase and at the decisive moment, while the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Plefsi Eleftherias voted against it from the preliminary phase and PASOK abstained at the final vote. The bill’s main point of friction centered on the age verification system and guarantees for protecting personal data, with parties opposed to the initiative criticizing that the measures lacked sufficient scientific backing and were processed before the corresponding European proposal is approved.
Dimitris Papastergiou defended the need to act on the issue and highlighted the app ‘Kids Wallet’, saying it “does not monitor any page or any message” and does not facilitate personal information, including the birth date, but only whether a user is above or below 15. Akis Skertsos defended the regulation as “necessary, effective, compatible with Community Law and proportionate,” and he accused the opposition of maintaining a “superficial, sterile, and irresponsible” attitude within the debate.
Age Checks and Platforms
The law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027 and will prohibit children under 15 from accessing major social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, with other platforms potentially to be added.
The measure does not ban children from using the internet more broadly, so children can still access educational resources and digital communication services.
Platforms will reportedly be responsible for verifying users’ ages through a system that uses a digital token to confirm age eligibility without revealing users' identities, and the legislation was approved with the sole support of the ruling center-right New Democracy party.
Dimitris Papastergiou said the app protects privacy because it “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.”
Papastergiou also said lawmakers had no time to wait for Brussels to pass “the perfect European law,” and he framed the bill as a response to “the problem of uncontrolled internet use — which leads children to addiction at the expense of their mental health.”
European Cooperation and Debate
Greece’s government said it is participating in work on a European digital solution to verify age, with Greece participating together with Cyprus, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Denmark. The technical project was described as ready for implementation, and Papastergiou invoked the conclusions of the European Commission on the possibility of establishing a minimum age for accessing social networks. In the debate, PASOK proposed allowing 13- and 14-year-olds to use restricted accounts with parental supervision, while the government’s approach set a single national threshold and work on a common European framework continued.
Greek Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou told Skai radio that platforms could rely on state applications like Gov.gr Wallet or Kids Wallet to securely verify whether the user meets the minimum age, without the need to transmit their full name or exact date of birth. The law assigns all technical responsibility to platforms and does not provide fines or penalties for parents if minors manage to circumvent the restrictions, while the bill also references a French precedent where a similar ban was overturned by the French Constitutional Council.