Greece Mandates Social Media Age Checks for Under-15s

Starting January 1, 2027, families in Greece will face a new digital reality: children under the age of 15 will be barred from using major social media platforms unless their parents actively manage access through government-endorsed software. This change means that parents must download specific applications, identified as Kids Wallet or Gov.gr, onto their own devices. These tools link to a child’s phone to restrict entry to services like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X, fundamentally shifting the responsibility of age verification from the platforms to the household.

The path to this legislation began earlier this year when Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the measure, describing it as a difficult but necessary step. After months of debate, the Greek parliament formally passed the bill, making it one of the first such restrictions enacted within the European Union. The law is now official and sets a firm start date for enforcement in the new year.

The government argues that waiting for a broader EU consensus was no longer an option. Dimitris Papastergiou, the minister for digital governance and AI, noted that the challenge is immediate. He stated, "It would have been very easy to do absolutely nothing today and wait for the perfect European law. But the challenge is here. Children are sinking into the internet every day, and I believe a responsible government must do what it is obliged to do." This sentiment drove the push for domestic action before a unified European standard could be finalized.

To enforce the ban, platforms are required to implement proportionate and reliable age-verification methods. If companies fail to comply, they risk fines under the existing EU Digital Services Act. The state apps are designed with privacy in mind, utilizing "age tokens" to confirm a user's age without collecting excessive personal data, according to Papastergiou. This technical approach aims to balance security with data minimization.

The bill faced opposition from minority parties in parliament, but the government’s majority allowed it to pass. This move follows a 2024 policy that already banned mobile phones in Greek schools. Public opinion appears to support the shift, with polls indicating widespread approval among adults in the country. Mitsotakis has indicated that Athens hopes to influence the rest of the EU to adopt similar measures.

While the European Commission recently introduced the EU Kids Act, that legislation currently only mandates an outright ban for children under 13, making Greece's threshold stricter. Australia remains the first country to enact a full social media ban for minors, though it has struggled with the practical implementation of age verification. Greece’s new law seeks to address those implementation challenges through its specific app-based solution.