Greece’s parliament has approved a bill banning the use of social media platforms for children under 15, amid growing concern about the impact of endless scrolling on the health and safety of minors. The ban, reported by Reuters, comes into force on 1 January 2027.
The vote, held on Friday 23 October, puts Greece among the first countries in Europe to legislate a minimum age for social media use. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said social media platforms have two and a half months to devise a way to verify users’ ages and protect their privacy.
Greece says it is standing by parents to help curb the “endless scrolling” that deprives children of sleep, concentration and time with their friends. The government argues that parents alone cannot police platforms designed to hold young users’ attention for hours at a time, and that the law gives families legal backing.
How the ban will work
Under the bill, platforms will be expected to prevent children under 15 from using their services once the ban takes effect. The practical question now is age verification: how a platform can reliably check a user’s age without collecting excessive personal data or shutting out legitimate adult users.
That challenge is why the government has given companies until the start of 2027 to put systems in place. Greece is among seven European Union countries seeking an age verification solution with the European Commission, according to Reuters, a sign that Athens hopes for a shared European approach rather than a patchwork of national checks.
Officials have not yet published the full enforcement details, including what penalties platforms could face if children slip through. Those rules will matter as much as the headline age limit, because a ban that is easy to evade will change little in practice.
Australia led, France was blocked
Greece is not the first country to try this route. Australia was the first country to pass legislation to curb the use of social media by minors, doing so last year, Reuters noted. A similar law passed in France was struck down by the country’s Constitutional Council in August, a reminder that age bans can run into legal and constitutional hurdles.
Supporters of the Greek law say the Australian example shows that governments can act, and that platforms do respond when the law is clear. Critics in other debates have warned that determined teenagers will find workarounds, and that age checks could push young users toward less regulated corners of the internet.
For now, the message from Athens is unambiguous: from 2027, social media in Greece will not be open to children under 15. Parents, schools and platforms now have just over two months to prepare for a change that could reshape how a generation of Greek children spends its time online, and other European governments will be watching closely to see whether Greece’s model works.
